• 


^t"Vr'  «,»••/ 4* 


- 
,-     -.  - 

>-- 


f  r  . 

• 


.- 

>r/  -4j^»  •- -     .- -      • 

«•«  <•'/  ^<,- 
»%«  •<  feM  */-  ^  jfcH  » .  <  »<  -i  j» »  ^  * . 

V/  Air  •  A^v- 


'    ft    *S  "">  p-f 
*»/  •* 
f-W  - 

•        • 


4&&K  -"•     •-    -- 


•  •••-  •  ••«• 


/  4  >,•  •<»•«• 

; 


:rw 

'•l<r«  4jM3j 

i4  i#".- 
•     . 

<iV 

• 

.  - 

. 


'  ^*^ 


THE    OIL    REGIONS 


OF 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


SHOWING 


WHERE  PETROLEUM  IS  FOUND ;  HOW  IT  IS  OBTAINED, 
AND  AT  WHAT  COST. 


4§inte  for  ttJfyom  it  iftatj  Concern. 


BY 

WILLIAM  WRIGHT. 

n 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN     SQUARE. 
1865. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-five,  by 

HARPER   &    BROTHERS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York. 


PEEFACE. 


IN  the  latter  part  of  March,  I  left  my  home  for  the  South- West,  design 
ing  to  pass  through  the  heart  of  West- Virginia,  Eastern  Kentucky,  East 
ern  Tennessee,  and  thence  down  the  Tennessee  valley — directly  as  a  cor 
respondent  of  the  New- York  Times ;  indirectly  with  a  view  of  collecting 
materials  for  a  volume  on  the  Border  States,  their  soils,  minerals,  climate, 
water-power,  social  condition,  etc.,  for  the  guidance  of  those  who  might 
desire  to  migrate  thither  after  the  war. 

On  the  way,  I  proposed  to  spend  a  few  days  in  the  oil  regions  of  Ve- 
nango  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  afterward  visit  those  of  West-Virginia, 
supposing  that  a  week  would  probably  suffice  to  do  both  all  needed  justice. 

In  accordance  with  this  plan,  I  walked,  jumped,  or  waded  the  valley  of 
Oil  Creek,  from  Titusville  to  Oil  City,  collecting  what  facts  and  observations 
I  could  during  the  three  days  consumed  in  the  passage. 

Arrived  at  the  journey's  end,  I  found  a  discordant,  contradictory  mass 
of  facts  and  figures  on  my  memorandum-book ;  and  came  to  the  conclusion 
that,  whatever  I  knew  the  first  day,  I  knew  much  less  the  second,  and 
nothing  at  all  the  third.  Further,  that  no  person  outside  of  Petrolia,  and 
very  few  in  it,  were  in  a  much  more  enviable  condition  of  mind  on  the 
subject,  if  they  would  own  up  to  the  truth. 

After  deliberating  afresh,  I  formed  the  resolution  of  visiting  every  pro 
ducing  well  in  that  county ;  gathering  from  men,  who  were  supposed  to  have 
no  interest  in  misrepresenting,  its  actual  yield ;  comparing  the  figures  with 
those  given  by  officials  and  neighbors,  and  out  of  the  whole  endeavoring  to 
ascertain  the  truth,  as  nearly  as  might  be.  At  the  same  time,  to  "  bore," 

M99742 


4  Preface. 

and  "  ream,"  and  "  pump "  every  practical  uiau  for  the  results  of  his 
observations,  if  so  be  it  were  possible  to  arrive  at  one  general  law  or  con 
clusion  respecting  the  oil  regions. 

The  residue  of  March  and  nearly  three  weeks  in  April  were  faithfully 
devoted  to  this  object.  The  distance  traversed  on  foot  was  fully  two 
hundred  miles — how  agreeable  the  trip,  will  be  easily  inferred  from  what 
follows. 

An  interest,  having  more  than  $100,000,000  of  bona  fide  capital  in 
vested  hi  it,  had  until  then  never  received  more  attention  than  could  be 
given  it  in  newspaper  correspondence  or  a  magazine  article.  The  financial 
aspect  of  it  had  not  even  been  scratcJied.  Indeed,  honest  writers  seemed  to 
avoid  reference  to  it,  except  in  the  most  general  terms,  as  if  it  were  going 
beyond  their  depth.  Of  course,  the  Oily  Gammons  of  the  press,  who  had 
been  hired  as  claqueurs  at  a  theatre,  applauded  every  thing.  That  was  their 
vocation ! 

In  the  following  pages  I  have  described  the  processes  of  boring  the 
wells,  of  repairing  them  after  getting  out  of  order,  and  of  refining  the  oil. 
I  have  entered  somewhat  minutely  into  the  physical  formation  of  the  coun 
try — a  topic  which  had  been  almost  overlooked,  and  on  some  points  of 
which,  I  hope  to  have  thrown  out  some  valuable  ideas  for  the  first  time. 
When  adopting  the  views  there  presented,  I  had  not  perused  the  Geological 
Report  of  Prof.  Rogers ;  and  it  is  highly  gratifying  to  find  that  in  the  main 
features  of  the  argument  advanced,  I  am  fully  borne  out  by  that  eminent 
name. 

But  it  is  to  the  statistical  and  financial  discussions  that  I  desire  princi 
pally  to  direct  attention.  Those  chapters  will  be  read  by  large  numbers 
who  are  eagerly  in  quest  of  the  information  therein  contained.  The  facts 
and  figures  now  given  to  the  public  for  the  first  time,  together  with  the 
modes  of  taking- in  over-smart,  shrewd,  keen,  knowing  Eastern  people,  will 
tell. 

Petrolia  needed  a  searching  examination  and  a  scathing  exposure ;  it 
lias  got  both.  Yet  let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  Underneath  a  system  of 
falsehood  and  fraud,  that  might  almost  be  termed  magnificent,  there  is  a  great 


basis  of  fact,  which  needs  to  be  presented  in  its  true  light ;  needs  to  be  pro 
tected  from  the  misrepresentations  of  its  own  pretended  friends,  who  would 
have  ruined  it  long  since  if  it  had  not  possessed  genuine  worth  of  a  high 
order.  It  is  to  censure  what  is  worth  censuring ;  to  strip  off  and  expose 
what  is  false  and  deceptive ;  to  denounce  the  cruelty,  the  lying,  the  roguery, 
the  abject  selfishness  of  many,  that  I  have  for  the  time  being  turned  aside 
from  my  original  object  to  prepare  these  sheets  for  the  press.  I  have  aimed 
to  state  the  truth  without  calumny  or  prejudice ;  to  express  it  clearly  and 
forcibly ;  to  be  as  thorough  as  it  was  possible  within  moderate  limits.  How 
well  or  how  ill  these  objects  have  been  accomplished,  the  reader  will  judge 
for  himself. 

It  is  with  a  feeling  of  gratitude  that  I  acknowledge  the  courtesy,  in  im 
parting  information,  of  Messrs  W.  H.  L.  Smith,  of  Corry ;  A.  Morrell  and 
Robert  B.  Gamble,  of  Titusville ;  Edward  Fox,  of  Petroleum  Centre ;  Wra. 
Boniface,  of  Rouseville ;  T.  S.  Truaire  and  C.  B.  Bliss,  of  Oil  City ;  Thomas 
R.  Hennon,  of  Tideoute  ;  Col.  McClure,  then  of  Plumer ;  George  S.  Siggius, 
of  Howe  ;  and  many  others,  whose  names  I  do  not  now  recall. 

Since  this  volume  went  to  press,  sports  have  been  received  to  the 
effect  that  the  United  States  well  on  Pithole  Creek  has  increased  its  flow 
to  nine  hundred  or  a  thousand  barrels  per  day ;  other  wells  in  that  local 
ity  are  also  said  to  have  improved.  On  the  other  hand,  certain  wells,  as 
the  Jersey,  on  Oil  Creek,  ha^  fallen  off  or  dried  up  altogether.  No  doubt, 
however,  the  summer  product  of  petroleum  in  Venango  county  is  consid 
erably  larger  than  that  of  March  and  April.  By  referring  to  the  last  chap 
ter  but  one,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  margin  of  about  two  thousand  barrels 
per  day  has  been  allowed  for  this  increase.  W.  W. 

PATERSON,  N.  J.,  May,  1865.  - 


OO^TEWTS. 


CHAPTER      I. 
PHYSICAL  FEATURES  AND  GEOLOGY  OF  THE   COUNTRY,     .        .  9 

CHAPTER     II. 

APPEARANCE   OF  THE   COUNTRY  —  THE   CLIMATE — CHARACTERISTICS 

OF  THE  PEOPLE,  ........  33 

CHAPTER      III. 
LOCATING  AND  SINKING  THE  WELLS, 61 

CHAPTER      IV. 
"  STRUCK  OIL  "  —  THE   LAW  OF   LAWLESSNESS,   ....  79 

CHAPTER     V. 

OBSTACLES  IN  THE  WAY — THE  MEANS  USED  TO   OVERCOME   THEM,       97 

CHAPTER      VI. 
STATISTICS  OF  PRODUCTION,  ' 112 

CHAPTER     VII. 
OIL  REFINING  AND  REFINERIES, 194 

CHAPTER     VIII. 
How  STRANGERS  ARE  TAKEN   IN, 206 

CHAPTER     IX. 
OUGHT  I  TO  INVEST  IN  PETROLEUM,  AND   How      ....     228 

CHAPTER     X. 
PRACTICAL   CONSIDERATIONS  ....  260 


THE  OIL  REGIONS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 

CHAPTEE     I. 

PHYSICAL  FEATUKES  AND  GEOLOGY  OF  THE  COUNTKY. 

THE  physical  features  of  the  oil  region  of  Pennsylvania 
are  simple,  easily  understood,  and  full  of  interest.  The 
most  productive  portion  of  it  consists  of  an  irregular  quad 
rangle,  each  of  its  sides  being  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five 
miles  in  length,  and  its  axial  line  nearly  corresponding 
with  the  course  of  Oil  Creek  between  Titusville  and  Oil 
City.  As  far  as  known,  it  is  limited  almost  exclusively 
to  the  Alleghany  Eiver  valley  and  a  section  of  its"  north 
western  slope,  the  principal  streams  which  enter  it  from 
that  direction  having  an  average  fall  of  about  twenty  feet 
to  the  mile,  while  that  great  artery  of  Western  Pennsyl 
vania,  between  Warren  and  Pittsburgh,  has  an  average 
fall  of  one  foot  to  the  mile.  At  Franklin,  the  mouth  of 
French  Creek,  it  is  nearly  eight  hundred  feet  above  tide 
water,  or  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  higher  than  the  sur 
face  of  Lake  Erie.  The  lake  shore  proper  is  a  compara 
tively  narrow  strip  of  land,  descending  from  the  range  of 
heights  which  separate  it  from  the  Alleghany  slope,  by 


10  Physical  Features,  etc. 

frequent  and  abrupt  terraces,  to  the  water.  In  the  oppo 
site  direction  the  descent  toward  the  south-east  is  for  a 
long  distance  go  -gentle  as  scarcely  to  be  noticeable  along 
the/ water- courses.  The  country  is  nearly  level,  or  rolled 
dp  into  hilxs  of  moderate  elevation  and  easy  ascent.  Such 
is  its  general  appearance  immediately  back  of  the  oil  region 
along  the  line  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway. 

On  leaving  Corry  for  Titusville,  the  passenger  is  con 
veyed  up  a  rather  steep  incline  for  a  few  miles,  on  passing 
which  the  railroad  traverses  the  summit,  a  table-land  with 
occasional  ridges  of  very  moderate  height,  or  round  hil 
locks  formed  of  drift — that  is,  sand  and  boulders,  ground, 
rounded,  and  more  or  less  polished.  By  and  by  the 
road  enters  a  slight  depression,  which  increases  till  it  be 
comes  a  ravine,  and  finally  the  bottom  of  a  noisy  stream, 
with  banks  twenty,  fifty,  and  finally  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  high,  at  which  it  reaches  Titusville.  The  railroad 
extends  down  the  valley  seven  or  eight  miles  further,  the 
heights  on  each  side  becoming  more  lofty  and  precipitous, 
until,  at  Shaffer's,  they  reach  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet, 
and  at  Oil  City,  twelve  miles  lower,  nearly  four  hundred 
feet  above  the  Alleghany  Eiver,  the  difference  in  their 
summits  being  inconsiderable. 

The  approaches  to  that  river  by  the  railroad  from  Mead- 
ville  to  Franklin,  and  by  that  from  Corry  to  Irvine  and 
Warren,  are  still  more  simple  than  on  the  route  already 
described,  there  being  no  elevations  to  be  climbed  before 
reaching  the  descent ;  but  a  gentle,  downward  grade  for 
the  entire  distance.  Starting  from  a  nearly  level  country, 
however,  the  same  phenomenon  is  perceptible  as  on  the 
Titusville  road,  namely,  heights  gradually  increasing  in 
altitude  and  abruptness,  until  the  common  objective  point 


Physical  Features,  etc.  11 

(the  Alleghany  valley)  has  been  reached,  where  they  are 
found  at  about  the  usual  elevation  of  four  hundred  feet. 

Starting  from  that  river  in  the  direction  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  along  any  of  the  tributary  streams  which  flow 
through  that  part  of  the  country,  an  exact  counterpart  to 
this  formation  will  be  found,  for  the  twenty,  thirty,  or 
forty  miles  immediately  east  of  the  Alleghany. 

Not  alone  in  the  oil  regions  of  Pennsylvania  will  this 
observation  be  found  to  apply.  The  same  physical  fea 
tures  are  noticeable  in  Western  New-York,  West- Virginia, 
Eastern  and  Southern  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  Northern 
Kentucky — in  fact,  throughout  the  entire  prairie  States, 
along  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause,  it  is  evident  that 
agencies  essentially  alike  have  been  at  work  in  producing 
the  effects  visible  to-day. 

The  observant  visitor  will  notice,  further,  that  all  this 
is  accompanied  by  hardly  a  perceptible  inclination  or  "  dip  " 
of  the  rocks,  which,  as  high  up  and  as  far  down  as  he 
can  trace  them,  are  disposed  in  beautiful  horizontal  lines, 
gray,  yellow,  or  brown  sandstones  alternating  with  blue, 
red,  or  brown  shales,  in  regular  and  frequent  succession. 
At  no  point  will  he  detect  "  faults  "  or  dislocations  in  the 
arrangement  of  these,  whether  on  the  surface  or  beneath, 
nor  will  he  find  the  inclination  at  any  point  exceeding 
five  degrees.  If  he  has  read  or  observed  carefully  the 
structure  of  mountains  elsewhere,  he  will  remember  that 
the  rocks  are  tilted  up  at  various  angles  with  the  horizon, 
in  some  cases  almost  ninety  degrees  ;  while  at  every  few 
paces  he  can  discern  marks  of  disturbance  in  their  situa 
tion  with  respect  to  each  other.  He  will  begin,  perhaps, 
to  reason  within  himself  how  very  improbable  it  must  be 


12  Physical  Features,  etc. 

that  those  heights  could  have  been  individually  upheaved, 
inasmuch  as  they  evince  no  signs  of  such  action,  having 
no  inclination  save  that  south-eastern  or  south-western  dip 
common  to  all  the  formations  from  Lake  Ontario  to  Ken 
tucky  and  Tennessee. 

If  he  climb  the  heights,  the  mystery  at  first  may  increase ; 
for  while  toward  the  principal  streams  the  bluffs  are  usu 
ally  abrupt,  precipitous,  pyramidal,  or  ridgy  ;  on  looking 
in  the  opposite  direction,  he  will  observe  the  same  table 
lands,  with  gentle  elevations  formed  of  drift  here  and 
there,  such  as  he  encountered  between  Corry  and  Titus- 
ville.  He  can  hardly  fail  to  suspect  the  truth,  that  the 
river-beds,  with  all  their  tributaries  and  the  bottoms  of 
ravines,  have  been,  in  the  course  of  ages,  scooped  out  of 
very  slight  original  depressions  by  the  action  of  water,  which 
has  dug  out  these  vast  channels  to  their  present  depth, 
and  is  still  engaged  in  deepening  and  widening  them. 

This  is  the  view  taken  by  all  geologists  of  eminence, 
who  have  examined  that  portion  of  the  State.  Professor 
Wm.  D.  Eogers,  in  his  admirable  Geological  Keport,  says : 
"  The  Alleghany  flows  through  a  deep  and  narrow  trench, 
excavated  in  the  north-west  plateau,  and  within  the  coal- 
basin  of  the  State.  ...  It  enters  the  north-western 
margin  of  the  coal-basin  at  Warren."  Eeferring  to  the 
remarkably  irregular  course  of  that  river  and  the  Ohio 
through  Pennsylvania,  he  further  observes  :  "  It  is  evident 
that  while  the  main  discharge  of  the  eroding  wave  was 
south-westward,  one  large  influx  of  eroding  waters  swept 
north-westward  from  the  Apalachian  Mountains,  and  an 
other  south-eastward  from  the  region  of  the  lakes." 

The  expression  "eroding  wave"  must  not,  however,  be 
understood  to  imply  that,  by  a  single  deluge,  whether 


Physical  Features^  etc.  13 

lasting  a  day  or  a  twelvemonth,  the  troughs  in  which  those 
rivers  now  run  could  have  been  hollowed  out.  No  sin 
gle  accumulation  of  waters,  collected  on  the  Apalachian 
Mountains  or  in  the  lake  basin,  would  be  sufficient  to  ex 
cavate  those  valleys  to  the  depth  of  a  single  inch,  much 
less  hundreds  of  feet.  The  joint  action  of  time  and  water 
was  necessary  to  "write  those  wrinkles  on  the  brow"  of 
that  Piedmont  section  ;  and  of  the  former  it  would  be  silly 
to  assign  less  than  myriads  of  our  years.  It  is  true  that 
in  an  earlier  stage  the  denuding  process  would  go  on  more 
rapidly,  inasmuch  as  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  was  sev 
eral  hundreds  of  miles  higher  up  than  at  present;  while 
the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries,  flowing  down  from  the  table 
lands,  would  rush  forward  and  abrade  their  bottoms  and 
banks  at  a  rate  which  can  hardly  be  understood  at  present. 
The  hard  limestone  bed  crossing  that  river  at  Louisville 
has  prolonged  resistance  till  this  day ;  but  that  is  also  des 
tined  to  wear  away,  together  with  the  softer  rocks  above ; 
the  fall  or  rapid  thus,  step  by  step,  retreating  to  Pittsburgh, 
unless  prevented  by  artificial  obstructions. 

Along  the  Ohio,  as  it  passes  between  Pennsylvania, 
West- Virginia,  and  Kentucky,  on  one  side,  and  Ohio  and 
Indiana  on  the  other,  it  may  be  observed  that  while  there 
is  substantially  the  same  horizontal  stratification,  with 
abrasion  of  the  uplands,  the  action  there  has  been  on  a 
still  larger  scale  than  further  northward.  The  causes  of 
this  difference  are  unquestionably  to  be  found  in  the  cir 
cumstances  of  the  larger  bodies  of  waters  at  work  lower 
down,  and  the  beds  of  rocks  forming  the  upper  series 
along  the  Ohio  consisting  of  soft  shales,  which  readily  dis 
solve,  and,  in  places,  are  so  constantly  crumbling  away  as 
to  form  little  streams  of  gravel,  which  become  beds  of 


14  Physical  Features -,  etc. 

stiff  clay  or  mud  upon  reaching  the  bottoms.  This  is 
carried  off  in  immense  quantities  every  year,  on  the  melt 
ing  of  the  snows  and  after  rains,  to  the  Ohio,  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  the  Gulf,  to  form  fresh  additions  to  the  area  ol 
Louisiana,  or  some  other  of  the  Cotton  States.  For  the 
whole  of  the  sugar  region,  and  at  least  one  half  of  the 
cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco  zones  of  the  South  consist  of  allu 
viums,  carried  down  the  eastern  and  western  slopes  of  the 
Apalachian  and  the  Eocky  Mountain  systems,  along  river- 
courses,  whose  beds  have  been  carved  tens  and  hundreds 
of  feet  below  what  was  once  the  general  level  of  the 
country. 

In  the  oil  region  of  Penns37lvania,  the  uppermost  rock 
in  the  series  (vespertine)  is  a  hard,  gray  conglomerate, 
which  resists  the  action  of  water  until  undermined  by 
the  dissolution  of  the  soft  shales  underneath.  When  this 
has  been  brought  about,  down  tumble  huge  masses  of  the 
vespertine,  in  uniform  and  often  quadrangular  blocks, 
which  in  turn  become  the  natural  protectors  of  the  bases 
and  sides  of  the  bluff,  as  they  had  been  of  its  summit. 
But  for  these  efficient  safeguards,  it  is  reasonable  to  infer 
that  the  channels  of  the  Alleghany  and  some  parts  of  the 
Ohio  would  have  been  as  wide  as  they  are  found  else 
where,  particularly  near  the  mouth  of  the  latter,  where 
the  country  for  miles  on  each  side  has  been  washed  away. 

This  explanation  of  the  origin  of  those  valleys  finds 
abundant  confirmation  at  every  bend  in  the  streams,  par 
ticularly  the  large  ones.  In  proportion  to  the  sharpness 
of  their  curves  is  the  precipitous  character  of  the  hills 
forming  their  exterior  lines ;  while  on  the  opposite  side, 
the  heights  slope  gently  and  gracefully  to  the  water.  Al 
most  the  only  fields  cultivated  on  the  slopes  are  those 


Physical  Features,  etc.  15 

headlands  around  which,  the  river  describes  a  semicircle. 
On  rivers  flowing  through  alluvial  countries,  as  the  Poto 
mac  and  the  James,  the  same  rule  will  hold  good,  as  to 
the  areas  embraced  within  their  several  bends  or  loops, 
while  the  opposite  shore  will  invariably  be  found  lofty 
and  abrupt,  the  channels  keeping  well  outward,  as  if  de 
sirous  of  increasing  their  circuit,  instead  of  proceeding 
"  on  interior  lines  "  or  cut-offs.  The  phenomenon  is  thus 
explained  :  Like  all  other  bodies,  water  has  a  tendency  to 
move  in  straight  lines,  as  have  all  the  objects  which  move 
upon  or  are  carried  down  by  it.  At  every  bend,  for  ex 
ample,  the  raft  is  naturally  thrown  somewhat  out  of  the 
middle  toward  the  convex  side  of  the  river,  and  the  shore 
there  is  struck  with  all  the  weight  and  momentum  of  the 
current,  until  it  is  undermined,  when  the  portions  lying 
highest  up  fall  down  and  are  gradually  ground  up  and 
their  particles  carried  off,  making  room  for  the  water  to 
renew  its  action  upon  the  bluffs.  Hence  the  two  processes 
of  lengthening  and  deepening  the  stream  may  be  said  to  go 
on  pari  passu.  At  the  principal  bends,  the  river,  which 
at  one  time  flowed  on  a  bed  hundreds  of  feet  higher,  also 
described  hundreds  of  yards  of  a  shorter  course  than  it 
now  does.  As  it  deepened  in  one  direction,  it  struck  out 
ward  in  another.  During  century  after  centurv,  it  thus 
kept  forsaking  its  old  channel  and  entering  one  more 
crooked,  rounding  the  headlands,  which  were  afterward 
covered  with  surface  soil  washed  down  from  above,  or 
made  by  vegetation  on  the  spot.  Every  mile  or  two  along 
the  Alleghany,  Oil  Creek,  French  Creek,  etc.,  these  addi 
tional  evidences  of  erosion  or  denudation  become  manifest 
in  the  formation  of  the  river-beds.  The  unavoidable  in 
ferences  are,  that  the  depositing  of  oil,  or  the  constituents 


16  Physical  Features,  etc. 

composing  it,  has  had  no  possible  relation  to  existing  river 
systems ;  that  curves,  headlands,  slopes,  table-lands,  and 
bottoms,  have  no  connection,  as  such,  with  the  finding  of 
petroleum ;  the  only  cause  why  it  was  discovered  in  the 
last-named  being,  that  that  which  was  stored  in  the  first 
sand-rock  beneath  the  surface  could  more  readily  find  its 
way  to  it  in  localities  where  the  deposit  had  been  approach 
ed  to  within  short  distances.  It  was  only  because  it  could 
come  more  easily  to  the  surface  in  springs  along  the  river- 
bottoms  than  on  the  uplands,  that  it  was  originally  dis 
covered  in  the  former ;  but  on  the  latter,  the  veins  in  the 
second  or  third  sand-rocks,  which  are  unable  to  manifest 
themselves  above  ground,  are  quite  as  likely  to  be  reached 
as  on  the  former,  the  only  drawbacks  being  the  greater 
cost  of  boring  and  of  pumping  the  wells  afterward. 

Though  rather  foreign,  to  the  subject  discussed  in  this 
work,  I  may  add,  that  the  views  advanced  above  explain 
the  cause  why  "  cut-off"  canals,  as  those  at  Vicksburgh  and 
Dutch  Gap,  have  been  unsuccessful.  They  were  dug  at 
points  too  far  down-stream,  with  their  upper  extremities 
some  distance  below  the  bluffs,  against  which  the  current 
had  struck  and  been  deflected  toward  the  opposite  bank. 
Had  Greneral  Butler's  famous  work  taken  "the  line  ot 
beautjr,"  its  northern  terminus  opening  against  the  chan 
nel  as  it  struck  the  bank,  there  could  hardly  be  a  doubt 
of  its  success. 

If  the  length  of  time  required  to  effect  such  changes 
on  the  earth's  surface  be  bewildering,  our  wonder  will  not 
subside  on  inspecting  more  closely  the  several  strata  be 
tween  the  uplands  and  the  lowest  point  yet  reached  by 
the  drillers,  a  range  of  about  fourteen  hundred  feet.  Mar 
vels,  indeed,  never  cease  in  Petrolia,  whether  we  regard  it 


Physical  Features,  etc.  17 

in  its  natural  aspect,  or  its  lately  developed  condition.  If 
we  take  our  stand  on,  any  of  the  elevations  along  Oil 
Creek,  French  Creek,  the  Brokenstraw,  or  any  other  trib 
utary  of  the  Alleghany,  in  that  quarter,  in  the  masses  of 
gray,  brown,  or  flaggy  sandstones,  even  on  the  conglom 
erates  forming  the  uppermost  rock  in  the  series,  we  shall 
discover  multitudes  of  the  impressions  of  what  once  was 
vegetable  or  animal  life — shells  univalve  and  bivalve, 
shells  of  all  shapes  and  sizes,  rough  and  smooth  casts  of 
shells.  The  plants  belong  largely  to  a  species  known 
among  naturalists  as  fucoids.  The  organic  remains  of 
the  shell-fishes  indicate  that  they  lived  and  moved  in  salt, 
not  fresh,  water ;  that  they  died  a  natural  death,  the  con 
sequence  of  ordinary  decay,  closing  up  the  doors  and 
windows  of  their  abodes,  and  quietly  dropping  to  what 
had  been  their  couch  ere  it  became  their  cemetery — the 
ocean-bed — as  composedly  as  Caesar  wrapped  himself  up 
in  his  toga,  at  the  base  of  Pompey's  statue.  Nothing  out 
of  the  natural  course,  no  marks  of  violence  are  percepti 
ble  in  the  circumstances  attending  their  dissolution.  No 
deluge  appears  to  have  swept  them  away  five  hundred  or 
one  thousand  miles  from  their  native  settlements  to  end 
their  existence  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains. 

"  Once,  in  the  flight  of  ages  past, 

There  lived  a  crab  ;  and  who  was  he  ? 
Mortal,  where'er  thy  lot  be  cast, 
That  crab  resembled  THEE  !" 

This  testimony  is  not  confined  to  one  rock  or  series  in 
the  several  geological  formations  of  "Western  Pennsylva 
nia.  In  the  numerous  layers  of  sandstone,  slate,  shale, 


18  Physical  Features,  etc. 

clay,  and  soap-stone,  evidences  of  mineral  and  vegetable 
life  may  be  found  as  low  down  as  the  beds  of  the  streams, 
and  hundreds  of  feet  beyond.  At  different  points  on  the 
railroad  between  Meadville  and  Franklin,  the  rock-cut 
tings  pass  through  what  once  were  dense  forests  of  tall 
trees,  the  petrified  ends  of  their  stems  projecting  through 
the  soft  layers,  which  are  beautifully  bent  around  them, 
the  petrifactions  lying  in  places  as  closely  together  as  they 
could  have  fallen.*  Their  diameters  range  from  ten  inches 
to  three  feet.  The  pores  of  the  bark  are  still  visible,  as 
is  its  general  arrangement  on  the  outside  of  the  quondam 
trees.  The  grooves  on  the  exterior,  the  layers  of  the  inte 
rior,  with  several  of  the  lines  radiating  from  the  heart,  are 
still  observable.  These  petrifactions  may  be  found  at 
various  depths,  from  ten  to  forty  feet  below  what  is  now 
the  surface  of  the  height,  but  which  was  hundreds  of 
feet  below  it  previous  to  the  eroding  action  of  the  waters. 
Shell-marks  in  abundance  are  discoverable  in  the  lowest  of 
those  rocks,  as  in  all  the  intermediate  strata.  Mr.  A. 
Morrell,  now  of  Titusville,  an  experienced  operator  and 
a  careful  observer,  assures  me  that  the  sand-pump  has 
brought  up,  from  the  depth  of  four  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  feet,  specimens  of  petrified  shell-fish,  which  are  now 
in  his  possession,  having  been  obtained  in  a  layer  of  hard, 
fossiliferous  limestone,  termed  by  most  operators,  "  the 
third  sand-rock."  Here  we  have  an  aggregate  thickness 
of  fully  seven  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  containing  probably 
twenty  distinct  layers,  in  most  or  all  of  which  the  re 
mains  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  are  discovered.  Should 
it  turn  out  that  the  Niagara  limestone  underlies  that  re- 

*  the  remains  of  a  mastodon  are  said  to  have  been  discovered  in  that 
vicinity,  while  the  railroad  was  being  graded. 


Physical  Features,  etc.  19 

gion,  there  is  no  telling  how  many  hundreds  of  feet  lower 
such  remains  may  yet  be  discovered. 

The  groups  of  sandstones  above  the  river-beds  differ 
somewhat  in  various  localities,  one  of  a  coarser  texture 
being  replaced  by  a  finer,  or  the  opposite,  a  pure  sand- 
rock,  by  one  more  or  less  argillaceous,  a  gray  by  a  yel 
low-colored  conglomerate,  containing  pebbles  of  quartz, 
sienite,  gneiss,  etc.  In  some  places  they  afford  excellent 
materials  for  building  purposes  ;  in  others  they  are  made 
into  grindstones  ;  superior  flag-stones  are  to  be  met  with 
everywhere.  But  such  are  mere  local  variations,  brought- 
about  by  the  deposition  of  the  several  materials  of  which 
the  layers  are  composed.  In  general,  it  will  be  found  that 
they  belong  to  rocks  which  terminate  toward  the  north  in 
the  State  of  New- York,  and,  in  South-western  Pennsyvania 
and  West- Virginia,  are  found  hundreds  of  feet  below  the 
surface,  the  several  coal-formations,  with  the  intermediate 
layers,  being  there  superimposed  on  these  formations. 
Counting  downward,  in  Yenango  county,  the  following  is 
the  succession  which  most  frequently  occurs  : 

1st.  Vespertine  conglomerate,  and  sandstone.  This  is  a 
white,  gray,  or  yellowish  rock,  varying  in  texture,  and 
alternating  with  a  coarse,  silicious  conglomerate,  or  with 
dark-blue  and  olive-colored  slates.  In  places  it  contains 
beds  of  dark,  carbonaceous  shales,  with  thin  seams  of 
coal.  Among  its  organic  remains  are  numerous  fragments 
of  coal-plants.  In  some  parts  of  the  State  this  series  is 
found  of  immense  thickness — as  much  as  twenty-six  hun 
dred  feet,  according  to  Professor  Eogers,  near  the  Susque- 
hanna  Kiver.  In  Yenango  county  I  have  not  observed 
it  more  than  one  one  hundred  feet  deep,  and  seldom  more 
than  fifty.  "  This  group  has  a  wide  distribution  in  Penn- 


20  Physical  Features,  etc. 

sylvania,  encircling  as  with  a  sort  of  girdle,  all  the  coal 
fields,  both  anthracite  and  bituminous.  ...  It  undergoes 
gradual  but  important  changes  of  type,  growing  thinner, 
and  assuming  a  finer  and  finer  texture  in  its  materials,  as 
it  spreads  westward;  Its  orographic  position  is  on  the 
ridges  and  external  escarpments  of  the  table-lands,  which 
enclose  or  support  the  coal-fields  ;  but,  except  in  the 
north-western  district,  it  does  not  immediately  adjoin  the 
conglomerates  and  sandstones  of  the  coal-measures.  .  .  In 
this  north-west  belt,  and  along  the  north  side  of  the  State, 
it  is  a  somewhat  argillaceous,  micaceous  sandstone.  .  . 
An  absence  of  fossils,  and  a  close  assimilation  of  the  ves 
pertine  and  umbral  series  render  it  difficult  to  define  their 
common  boundary.  .  .  Around  "Warren,  this  group  of 
rocks,  reposing  directly  on  the  vergent  series,  and  over 
laid  by  the  serai  white  sandstone,  consists  of  four  mem 
bers — the  lowest  a  group  of  thin-bedded  sandstones  and 
olive-gray  shales,  the  sandstone  containing  a  perpendicu 
lar,  bifurcating,  stem-like  fossil.  The  second  is  a  massive 
quartzose  conglomerate  of  smooth,  ovoid  pebbles,  about 
ten  feet  thick.  The  third  is  a  thick  mass  of  olive -gray 
shale  and  thin-bedded  sandstones,  about  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet.  The  fourth,  or  uppermost,  is  a  fossilif- 
erous  gray  sandstone,  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet.  .  .  The  ves 
pertine  conglomerate  caps  the  hills  north-west  of  the  Al- 
leghany  Eiver.  It  is  often  mistaken  for  the  serai  conglom 
erate  and  sandstone  of  the  coal  measures."  (EOGEES.) 

2d.  The  vergent  series.  This  consists  of  a  rather  fine 
grained  gray  sandstone,  the  layers  parted  by  thin  alter 
nating-bands  of  shale.  According  to  the  authority  just 
quoted,  it  abounds  with  remains  of  marine  vegetation. 
In  Huntington  county  it  attains  a  thickness  of  seventeen 


Physical  Features,  eto.  21 

hundred  feet.  In  Yenango  county  it  comes  down  to  the 
river  bottoms,  a  distance  of  nearly  three  hundred  feet  "be 
low  the  vespertine  rocks ;  how  far  beneath  the  valleys  is 
unknown.  Toward  the  west  this  series  has  a  wide  exten 
sion,  spreading  out  in  Ohio,  in  Kentucky,  and  even  Mid 
dle  Tennessee,  as  well  as  stretching  through  "West- Vir 
ginia  and  East-Tennessee.  Some  geologists  have  classi 
fied  this  series  as  follows,  counting  downward :  Slate  and 
flaggy  sandstone.  Two  layers  of  hard,  silicious  sandstone. 
Beds  of  thin,  pebbly  rock.  In  places,  a  stratum  of  yel 
low  sandstone.  Several  beds  of  gray  sandstone,  of  more 
or  less  thickness.  Two  or  three  thin  layers  of  sandstone, 
with  shells.  Beds  of  shale,  usually  very  dark,  alternate 
between  each  of  the  above-mentioned  layers. 

This  second  series  comprises  what  are  known  in  New- 
York  as  the  Chemung  and  the  Portage  groups.  They 
belong  to  the  class  denominated  palaeozoic  rocks,  because 
containing  the  most  ancient  remains  of  animal  and  vege 
table  life  yet  discovered,  stretching  all  the  way  between 
the  gneissic  formations  beneath,  and  the  lowest  of  the 
coal-deposits  above.  Sometimes  they  are  denominated, 
"  fossiliferous,"  "sedimentary,"  or  "secondary"  rocks. 
"In  Pennsylvania,"  says  Kogers,  "this  class  have  been 
deposited  during  all  the  four  earliest  periods  of  the  great 
European  divisions,  namely,  the  Cambrian,  the  silurian, 
the  devonian,  and  the  carboniferous.  No  traces  of  the 
fifth  or  permian  group  have  yet  been  discovered  in  North- 
America.  .  .  .  The  prolonged  succession  of  sedi 
mentary  action  ceased  with  the  close  of  the  cambrian 
system,  being  terminated  by  the  upheaval  of  the  ocean,  in 
whose  broad  bed,  and  around  whose  margin  these  depo 
sits  had  been  collected."  The  aggregate  thickness  of  all 


22  Physical  Features,  etc. 

the  rocks  belonging  to  this  class,  measured  at  their  great 
est  depths,  is  not  less  than  thirty-five  thousand  feet. 

As  mention  has  been  made  of  the  coal-beds  found  in 
that  vicinity,  and  as  the  coal  and  petroleum  formations  are 
generally  believed  to  be  intimately  related  to  each  other, 
both  being  largely  carbonaceous,  it  may  be  proper  to  re 
mark  here,  that  the  oil  region  is  bounded  by  the  coal 
fields,  on  the  south  and  the  east.  On  both  sides  of  the 
Alleghany,  near  Franklin,  coal  crops  out,  in  a  thin  bed, 
and  of  a  rather  poor  quality,  along  the  summits  of  the 
hill,  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  above  water.  Farther  down  the  river  it  occurs 
at  a  lower  elevation,  until  on  reaching  Pittsburgh  the 
deepest  beds  are  found  below  the  water-courses.  In  some 
localities  near  Franklin,  the  coal-vein  appears  to  have 
filled  a  cup -like  depression  once  existing  on  the  surface 
where  it  was  formed,  the  bed  now  dipping  downward, 
and  afterward  rising  to  its  former  level.  In  that  neigh 
borhood  the  coal-bed  may  be  traced  as  a  dark,  even  line, 
extending  along  the  highest  eminences,  while  at  the  foot 
of  the  bluffs  operations  at  boring  have  been  going  on. 
Toward  the  east  the  coal-fields  are  more  distant ;  but  their 
margin  in  that  direction  has  not  been  clearly  traced  and 
defined.  Owing  to  the  absence  of  large  streams  and  broad 
bottoms,  operations  at  searching  for  petroleum  have  also 
been  greatly  restricted  east  of  the  Allegbany.  The  near 
est  practicable  point  at  which  coal  can  be  reached  is  on 
the  line  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Erie  Eailroad,  above 
Warren. 

As  far  as  I  am  aware,  no  actual  test  has  yet  been  made, 
or  if  made,  none  has  succeeded,  in  boring  for  oil  through 
the  coal-measures.  The  experiment  is  one  that  ought  to 


Physical  Features,  etc.  23 

be  instituted,  its  results  having  something  to  do  with,  ver 
ifying  or  disproving  the  theory  as  to  the  genesis  of  petro 
leum  commonly  entertained.  By  some  it  is  stoutly  main 
tained  that  the  one  is  never  found  immediately  above  or 
below  the  other ;  hence,  that  it  is  idle  to  expect  oil  on 
coal-lands.  Others  assert  that  they  have,  in  West- Vir 
ginia,  passed  through  the  coal,  and  found  oil  beneath.  It 
devolves  upon  the  owners  of  coal-lands  to  prove  the  con 
tiguous  existence  of  the  two,  or  else  be  satisfied  with 
lower  prices  than  they  are  now  demanding. 

At  all  events,  the  two  formations  in  Pennsylvania  are 
geologically  separated  by  great  distances.  Between  the 
coal-beds  and  the  first  sand-rock  where  oil  appears,  at 
least  four  hundred  feet  intervene,  and  at  least  eight  hun 
dred  feet  between  the  coal  and  the  third  sand-rock,  from 
which,  the  largest  yield  has  been  derived.  As  to  the  pos 
sibility  of  the  one  being  supplied  from  the  other,  some  fur 
ther  remarks  are  offered  elsewhere. 

Descending  to  the  formations  below  the  river-bottoms,  as 
traversed  by  the  drill,  and  brought  up  (as  mud)  by  the 
sand-pump,  it  becomes  necessary  to  take  the  "  records"  of 
wells  as  kept  by  operators  of  more  or  less  acquaintance 
with  the  subject.  Mr.  Morrell  gives  the  following  as  the 
series  found  on  the  Watson  flats  below  Titusville,  in  sink 
ing  five  hundred  feet : 

First.  Schist  rock,  with  mica  and  a  little  hornblende. 
This  is  what  the  drillers  usually  term  u  the  first  sand." 

Second.  A  very  soft,  silicious  rock,  resembling  soap- 
stone.  Feels  very  soft  and  greasy  at  first,  and  has  a  nearly 
white  color ;  but  hardens,  and  becomes  bluish  after  a  time. 

Third.  A  hard  transition  rock. 

Fourth.  Fossiliferous  limestone,  containing  fissures  01 


24  Physical  Features,  etc. 

caverns  in  which  oil  is  found.  This  is  usually  termed 
"  the  second  sand-ro'ck  ;"  and  as  it  contains  sand  in  various 
proportions,  it  will  be  so  termed  in  this  work. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Gamble,  also  of  Titusville,  who  is  superin 
tendent  of  the  Pennyslvania  Oil  Creek  Company's  Deep 
well,  (now  fully  twelve  hundred  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
Watson  flats,  and  still  in  progress,)  furnishes  the  follow 
ing  as  the  results  of  his  observations  : 

The  first  sand-rock  commonly  occurs  there  between  one 
hundred  and  fifty  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  down, 
and  is  about  sixteen  feet  thick.  Drillers  then  bore  through 
different  layers  of  slate  and  soap-stone,  (not  the  common 
variety  of  the  latter,)  in  which  the  tools  often  stick  fast. 
Between  four  hundred  and  eighty  and  four  hundred  and 
ninety  feet,  they  strike  a  pebbly  bed,  often  mixed  with 
slate,  and  usually  five  feet  thick.  What* is  known  as  the 
second  rock  occurs  about  four  hundred  feet  down,  and  is 
between  fifty  and  sixty  feet  thick.  In  this  bed,  oil  is  most 
commonly  obtained  in  that  locality.  In  this  particular 
instance,  the  company  decided  to  keep  on  boring  for  the 
purpose  of  making  an  experiment,  with  the  annexed  re 
sult  :  At  twelve  hundred  and  fifteen  feet,  they  had  not 
reached  the  third  sands  tone;  and  the  general  belief  among 
practical  men  on  the  flats  is,  that  none  such  is  to  be  found 
there.  But  they  passed  through  shale,  slates,  soap-stone, 
etc.,  as  above  the  second  layer.  This  well  is,  at  least, 
four  hundred  feet  deeper  than  any  other  whose  record  I 
was  able  to  examine. 

In  passing,  it  may  be  mentioned  here  that  a  company 
has  been  formed  at  Petroleum  Centre,  with  Mr.  D.  W. 
Davies  as  superintendent,  to  sink  a  shaft,  about  seven  by 
seventeen  feet,  as  far  down  as  practicable.  The  organiza- 


Physical  Features,  etc.  25 

tion  is  known  as  the  Shaft  Company.  The  experiment 
cannot  fail  to  be  highly  valuable  to  the  cause  of  science, 
and  may  repay  all  outlays  upon  it  one  hundred  times  over. 
Every  company  and  land-owner  in  Petrolia  ought  to  en 
courage  the  attempt.  The  evolution  of  gas  will  constitute 
the  chief  difficulty  to  the  progress  of  this  undertaking ; 
and  may  prevent  the  introduction  of  artificial  lights  alto 
gether.  As,  however,  it  is  much  lighter  than  common 
atmospheric  air,  it  is  believed  the  latter  can  be  forced  down 
in  quantities  sufficient  to  render  the  operations  innocuous^ 
Much  interest  will  attach  to  the  work  as  it  progresses. 

Mr.  T.  S.  Truaire,  a  refiner  and  a  gentleman  of  veracity 
and  much  intelligence,  furnishes  the  subjoined  statement 
from  his  record  of  a  well,  sunk  under  his  direction,  one 
mile  above  Oil  City :  u  At  the  depth  of  two  hundred  and 
five  feet,  we  struck  the  first  sandstone,  and  went  through 
it  at  two  hundred  and  forty-three  feet.  From  that  point 
to  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  we  found  hard-pan  clay, 
beyond  which  we  struck  the  second  rock,  thirty  feet  thick. 
From  three  hundred  and  eighty  to  four  hundred  and  fifty 
feet,  we  found  another  shale  ;  and  on  passing  this,  we  en 
tered  the  third  sand-rock,  of  forty  feet  in  thickness.  In 
this  we  struck  a  seventy-barrel  well." 

The  points  selected  above  are  nearly  eighteen  miles 
apart,  or  fifteen  in  a  direct  line,  the  difference  in  elevation 
between  their  surfaces  being  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet.  It  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that,  while  the  under 
lying  rocks  are  nearly  horizontal,  the  layers  in  some  places 
disappear  altogether,  and  in  others  are  modified,  both  as 
to  quality  and  thickness.  Several  persons  report  that  on 
the  Watson  flats,  immediately  above  the  oil-vein,  they 
find  a  hard,  flinty  rock,  a  few  feet  in  thickness,  black 
2 


26  Physical  Features,  etc. 

and  smooth,  like  that  used  for  whetstones.  Others  report 
finding  a  mud- vein,  from  three  to  five  feet  thick,  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  second  rock.  It  is  supposed  that  this 
has  settled  as  a  sediment,  where  oil  and  gas  formerly  ex 
isted,  after  exhaustion  of  the  former.  Whatever  the  or 
igin,  it  is  productive  of  much  trouble  and  loss  in  boring. 

Mr.  Fox,  an  experienced  manager  and  a  close  observer, 
showed  me  numerous  specimens  of  the  inferior  rocks.  As 
compared  with  the  first,  a  fragment  of  the  third  sand-rock 
at  Petroleum  Centre  is  harder,  finer,  and  better  polished, 
somewhat  resembling  a  whetstone ;  its  color  is  gray. 
Among  the  sand  brought  up  from  the  bottom  were  found 
mixed  black  particles,  as  if  of  a  carbonaceous  origin.  The 
specimen  also  had  a  distinct  odor  of  the  gas  which  comes 
off  petroleum. 

At  Tideoute,  on  the  Upper  Alleghany,  in  sinking  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,  they  passed  through  layers  of  earth 
or  gravel,  slate,  soap-stone,  slate,  gray  sand,  and  white 
sand,  finding  oil  in  a  gray,  pebbly  conglomerate.  There 
and  at  West-Hickory,  crevices  were  found,  into  which  tools 
often  dropped  and  got  fast.  On  the  Lower  Alleghany,  it 
is  not  customary  to  sink  more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty 
or  five  hundred  feet,  and  the  observations  are  of  less  value. 
One  superintendent  reports  that  below  the  second  sand 
stone,  they  usually  get  shale  and  soap-stone ;  sometimes 
beds  of  hard  shales ;  sometimes  a  third  sand- rock  is  pierc 
ed,  but  not  often.  Another  states  that,  on  or  near  West- 
Sandy  Creek,  at  the  depth  of  five  hundred  and  eighteen 
feet,  they  went  through  a  substance  of  a  bright,  silvery 
appearance,  which  he  believes  to  be  a  metal.  It  was  very 
hard,  and  the  bed  about  nine  inches  thick.  The  gentle 
man  was  evidently  trustworthy,  but  he  could  only  describe 


Physical  Features,  etc.  27 

the  substance  from  memory,  having  bored  through  it  some 
years  ago. 

The  wells  put  down  five  or  six  years  since,  in  several 
cases  got  petroleum  in  the  first  sand-rock,  their  owners 
having  been  led  to  select  such  spots  from  "  surface  indica 
tions  ;"  that  is,  petroleum  oozing  out  of  the  ground.  The 
famous  Drake  well  struck  oil  at  the  depth  of  only  sixty- 
nine  and  a  half  feet.  In  only  some  instances  did  men  think 
of  going  down  to  the  second  rock,  and  in  none  to  the  third 
till  long  afterward.  The  article  found  in  the  uppermost 
layer  is  darker,  thicker,  heavier,  and  more  valuable  than 
that  coming  from  the  next,  as  the  latter  is  apt  to  be  supe 
rior  to  that  obtained  from  the  third  "rock.  On  French 
Creek,  the  splendid  lubricating  oil  is  got  in  the  second  se 
ries  exclusively ;  the  only  instance  in  which  I  could  hear 
of  oil  having  been  got  lower  down,  showing  that  it  was  of 
the  illuminating  kind.  But  experiments,  sufficient  to  prove 
the  existence  of  a  general  law  on  this  subject,  have  not  yet 
been  made ;  and  of  all  regions,  Petrolia  is  the  last  where 
a  general  principle  can  safely  be  inferred  from  particular 
facts,  Nature  having  apparently  taken  a  delight  in  setting 
all  her  own  regulations  at  defiance.  The  only  law  which 
can  be  recognized  with  certainty  is  that  of  lawlessness. 

If  people  wonder  that  sagacious  and  truthful  men  should 
sometimes  vary  so  widely  in  their  descriptions  of  the  same 
object  or  phenomenon,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  few  oi 
the  superintendents,  and  none  of  the  drillers,  however  ex 
perienced  as  operators,  have  received  a  regular  scientific 
training  ;  while  professional  savans  have  kept  far  too  clear 
of  the  oil  regions,  as  if  they  dreaded  to  come  in  contact 
with  petroleum,  except  when  their  opinions  were  solicited 
and  paid  for  by  interested  parties.  This  is  not  all  the  dif- 


28  Physical  Features,  etc. 

ficulty,  however.  The  evidences  of  what  the  nether  for 
mations  consist  of,  and  what  they  contain,  come  up  in  the 
sand-pump,  before  passing  into  which  the  matter  is  ground 
fine,  and  being  mixed  with  the  water  forms  a  paste  or  fluid. 
Seldom  is  a  pebble  bigger  than  a  pea  brought  up  by  the 
ordinary  process.  Only  when  the  workmen  introduce 
some  extraordinary  agent  like  the  torpedo,  can  they  cal 
culate  upon  getting  fragments  of  the  rocks  to  furnish  data 
for  observation  and  reflection. 

For  the  same  reason,  the  relation  of  petroleum  to  salt 
water  is  difficult  to  be  gathered.  The  two  liquids  have 
been  found,  in  almost  immediate  contact  very  generally, 
in  first,  second,  and  third  sandstones ;  although  it  is  now 
rare  to  get  either  in  considerable  quantities  from  the  first. 
But  the  sand-pump  coming  up  with  a  load  of  dissolved 
and  mixed  sand  and  clay,  brings  with  these  and  the  brine 
more  or  less  fresh  water  which  falls  down  from  above,  so 
that  the  precise  spot  where  a  salt-spring  may  be  reached 
can  not  be  ascertained.  All  that  we  know  with  tolerable 
certainty  is  that,  on  passing  the  second  layer  of  sandstone, 
little  by  little  the  water  begins  to  taste  brackish  ;  but  not 
until  the  well  has  been  "  seed-bagged"  and  pumped  for  a 
time  does  it  reach  the  full  degree  of  strength,  which  is 
often  equal  to  that  of  the  strongest  sea  water.  In  some 
instances,  this  was  struck,  on  Oil  Creek,  at  depths  of  only 
seventy  or  one  hundred  feet.  At  Tideoute  and  West- 
Hickory,  the  salt  was  reached,  in  connection  with  the  oil, 
at  various  depths  between  one  hundred  and  ten  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,  the  rule  there  being — no  brine,  no 
petroleum. 

But  why  this  close  neighborhood  on  the  part  of  liquids 
which  do  not  mix  mechanically,  have  no  known  chemical 


Physical  Features,  etc.  29 

relationship,  and  are  never  found  associated  in  either  the 
animal  or  vegetable  world,  except  as  traces  ?  It  is  a  com 
mon  proverb  that  oil  and  water  cannot  be  made  to  mingle. 
yet  Nature,  in  her  subterranean  laboratories,  seems  to  de 
light  in  setting  this  rule  at  defiance ;  for  while  the  brine 
usually  manifests  itself  first  in  order,  when  the  pump  is 
applied,  it  never  entirely  forsakes  the  oil,  the  two  clinging 
to  each  other  like  brother  and  sister.  They  are  found  to 
gether  in  West-Virginia,  Ohio,  and  Kentucky,  as  well  as 
in  Western  Pennsylvania. 

And  whence  the  brine  ?  it  may  be  asked.  This  ques 
tion  admits  of  a  ready  answer,  and  but  one,  by  means  of 
the  fossiliferous  remains  and  impressions  of  marine  plants 
found  in  the  sandstone,  all  going  to  show  that  every  suc 
cessive  layer  of  it  and  of  clay  shales  was  formed  in  a 
shallow  sea,  which  kept  sinking  gradually,  as  the  coasts  of 
certain  countries  are  known  to  be  doing  at  present.  All 
this  must  have  been  going  on  through  an  untold  succes 
sion  of  ages  before  the  upheaval  of  that  portion  of  the 
American  continent  began,  or  any  river  had  begun  to 
thread  its  devious  course  along  the  slight  depressions. 
Added  to  the  above  is  the  following  remarkable  fact,  stat 
ed  by  Mr.  Ludovici,  of  the  Humboldt  Kefinery,  near  Plum- 
er,  a  most  intelligent  gentleman  :  From  one  of  their  wells, 
about  seven  hundred  feet  deep,  was  brought  up  a  fibrous, 
yellowish  substance,  closely  resembling  salt  meadow-grass, 
and  not  quite  decomposed.  The  inference  is  clear  that  the 
sand-beds  and  clay  deposits,  the  latter  of  which  turned  to 
shales,  cracking  and  cleaving,  as  we  may  behold  them, 
under  the  influence  of  heat,  any  day,  were,  in  their  "half- 
baked"  condition,  completely  saturated  with  the  salt  water, 
which  remained  in  their  seams  and  crevices  long  after  the 


30  Physical  Features,  etc. 

great  valley  had  been  upheaved  from  the  ocean-bed  to  its 
present  elevation. 

While  on  this  subject,  I  may  relate  a  curious  experi 
ment  made  by  Mr.  Morrell,  who  placed  a  quantity  of  pe 
troleum  and  salt  water  in  an  atmospheric  pump,  and  then 
exhausted  the  air,  having  previously  shaken  the  two  to 
gether,  so  as  to  mix  them  as  perfectly  as  possible.  The 
result  was,  that  the  water  settled  to  the  top  and  bottom,  the  oil 
remaining  in  the  middle  of  the  vessel  This  is  the  more 
worthy  of  notice  since  it  conforms  to  common  experience 
in  the  oil  regions,  brine  coming  first  up  in  the  pumps,  next 
petroleum,  accompanied  by  gas,  and  lastly  salt  water.  Why 
this  disposition  in  the  tube  ?  Who  can  explain  the  cause 
of  capillary  attraction? 

On  the  geographical  and  geological  relations  of  coal  and 
p  etroleum,  I  have  already  made  some  general  observations. 
Even  with  the  imperfect  information  within  reach,  the 
subject  has  a  practical  bearing.  It  is  very  certain  that 
companies  issuing  prospectuses  which  intimate  that  because 
coal  exists  on  their  property,  therefore  oil  will  likely  be 
reached,  reckon  without  their  hosts.  The  intervening 
space  between  the  two  (from  four  hundred  to  one  thousand 
feet)  is  so  great,  and  contains  such  an  immense  variety  of 
rocks,  that  I  regard  the  passage  of  petroleum  downward 
by  filtration  as  an  impossibility.  If  the  heavy  sea  water, 
for  example,  existing  in  the  second  series,  has  in  thousands 
of  years  been  unable  to  work  its  passage  downward  to  the 
ocean-level,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  beds  so  completely 
filled  with  it  would  admit  the  entrance  of  a  lighter  liquid 
from  above  f  Fresh  water,  we  know,  is  scarcely  ever  found 
more  than  two  hundred  feet  beneath  the  surface  of  the  riv 
ers,  and  never  at  the  depth  of  four  hundred  feet,  except 


Physical  Features,  etc.  31 

by  passing  down  the  oil-wells.  Could  petroleum,  still 
lighter,  have  made  its  way  through  slate,  hard-pan,  soap- 
stone,  and  all  the  other  sedimentary  formations,  passing 
through  a  band  of  stone  so  hard  and  unfractured  that  it 
would  seem  to  have  been  thrown  like  a  lid  upon  the  pre 
cious  deposit,  to  keep  it  down  ?  If  it  now  bursts*  its  bar 
riers  with  such  violence  upward,  would  it  enter  them  by  the 
mere  force  of  gravity  ?  These  are  not  the  only  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  that  ready  theory  which  traces  the  creation 
of  oil  to  the  distillation  of  coal.  A  still  greater  difficulty 
is  to  account  for  the  existence,  in  such  quantities,  of  in 
flammable  gas.  Did  the  carbonetted  hydrogen — so  many 
times  lighter  than  atmospheric  air — also  work  its  passage 
downward  ?  If  it  be  replied  that,  in  common  with  petro 
leum,  it  was  extracted  from  the  coal  at  such  low  depths 
by  subterranean  heat,  applied  subsequently  to  its  depo 
sition,  I  ask  again :  Would  not  this  heat  have  decomposed 
the  water,  which  would  have  parted  with  its  oxj^gen,  and 
thus  have  converted  the  gas  into  carbonic  acid,  which  is 
poisonous  and  not  inflammable,  instead  of  carbonetted  hy 
drogen,  which  has  the  very  opposite  qualities  ?  JSTo  theorjr 
is  hedged  in  with  difficulties  so  numerous  and  insuperable 
as  that  which  traces  to  the  coal-fields  the  existence  of 
rock-oil. 

But  if  the  manifest  truth  be  admitted,  that  previous  to 
the  formation  of  our  upper  sedimentary  rocks,  an  atmos 
phere,  containing  its  present  constituents  of  oxygen,  nitro 
gen,  carbon,  and  hydrogen,  only  in  different  proportions, 
perhaps,  must  have  enveloped  our  globe,  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  "  from  the  beginning,"  how  far  back  soever  we  fix 
that  date,  hydro-carbons  of  various  kinds  must  have  been 
formed,  whenever  and  wherever  the  temperature  of  the 


32  Physical  Features,  etc. 

earth  s  surface  permitted  this.  Whether  coming  into  ex 
istence,  as  bogs,  fens,  forests,  and  the  like,  to  be  converted 
by  pressure  into  coal-fields  and  thence  distilled  into  petro 
leum  and  gas,  or  whether  manufactured  directly  by  heat, 
which  might  be  generated  by  mere  pressure  or  force  as 
the  equivalent  of  heat,  in  the  laboratories  of  nature,  we 
know  nothing.  One  thing,  however,  seems  probable,  if 
not  certain,  namely,  that  as  coal  takes  us  back  geolo 
gically  to  a  carbonaceous  era  anterior  to  existing  bog  or 
forest,  so  petroleum  discloses  to  us  another  such  era 
equally  anterior  to  coal,  at  least  anterior  to  the  coal  found 
on  this  continent.  And  with  this  hasty  attempt  at  solving 
what  may,  reasonably  enough,  be  regarded  as  beyond  the 
reach  of  an  ordinary  observer,  I  dismiss  this  part  of  the 
subject. 

At  the  same  time,  I  would  most  earnestly  invoke  men 
of  science  everywhere  to  give  it  a  more  thorough  exam 
ination  than  it  has  hitherto  received ;  to  come  to  the  oil 
regions,  and  remain  there  for  weeks  and  months,  collect 
ing  pebbles,  fossils,  fragments,  and  all  other  materials  ob 
tainable  from  the  nether  world.  Let  them  spend  their 
time  and  labor  as  entbusiastic  explorers  of  truth,  not  with 
a  view  to  lend  their  names  to  this  or  that  Mammoth  Gas 
Bubble  Company,  for  a  consideration  in  dollars  or  dollars' 
worth,  thus  fastening  a  stigma  upon  science,  as  indolent 
and  behind  the  age,  while  it  panders  to  deception,  if  not 
by  misrepresenting  some  facts,  at  least  by  a  studied  con 
cealment  of  others. 


CHAPTER    II. 

APPEARANCE  OF  THE  COUNTRY — THE  CLIMATE — CHARAC 
TERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

THE  oil  region  of  Pennsylvania  is  entered  at  four 
principal  points,  which  may  be  termed  the  natural  gate 
ways  of  the  country.  Two  of  these  the  Alleghany  River 
affords,  it  being  navigable  on  the  south  from  Pittsburgh, 
and  (occasionally)  on  the  north  from  Irvine,  on  the  line  of 
the  Philadelphia  and  Erie  Railroad.  Rafts  and  flat-bot 
tomed  boats,  indeed,  come  down  from  much  higher  points 
during  spring  and  autumn.  While  a  considerable  propor 
tion  of  the  imports  come  by  way  of  Pittsburgh,  and  large 
quantities  of  petroleum,  both  crude  and  refined,  are  daily 
sent  down  to  that  city,  the  great  volume  of  travel  to  and 
fro  passes  by  railroad.  The  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railway  proceeds  in  a  direction  nearly  parallel  with  Oil 
Creek,  and  at  the  average  distance  of  about  thirty  miles, 
to  the  westward.  The  points  affording  communication 
with  this  trunk-line  are  Corry  and  Meadville,  about  forty 
miles  apart,  the  former  also  touching  the  Philadelphia  and 
Erie,  now  operated,  under  a  lease,  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Central  Company. 

Taking  the  cars  of  the  Oil  Creek  Railroad  at  Corry,  the 
passenger  is  apt  to  find  himself  inconveniently  packed  by 
the  way,  and  may  not,  indeed,  be  able  to  procure  admis- 
2* 


34:  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

sion  further  tlian  the  platform,  feeling  only  too  happy 
that  he  is  not  among  the  disappointed  company  who  have 
been  left  behind.  After  traversing  an  upward  grade  for 
a  few  miles  and  the  table-land  beyond,  he  finds  the  road 
entering  a  branch  of  the  famous  Oil  Creek.  Passing  near 
Oil  Lake  and  the  village  stations  of  Centreville  and  Hyde- 
town,  he  at  length  reaches  Titusville,  distant  twenty- 
eight  miles,  the  two  hours'  ride  costing  only  one  dollar. 
At  the  depot  he  may  bid  adieu  to  cheap  fares,  good  beds, 
clean  sheets,  and  other  characteristics  of  civilization  uin 
the  States." 

From  Titusville  the  railroad  proceeds  down  the  valley 
to  Shaffer's  Station,  nearly  eight  miles ;  but  most  of  the 
passengers  stop  off  at  the  former,  it  being  the  business 
centre  of  the  upper  end  of  Petrolia,  and  the  point  from 
which  future  operations  of  any  kind  can  best  be  carried  on. 

The  other  gateway  is  Meadville,  from  which  a  branch 
railroad  has  been  built  by  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Company  to  Franklin,  twenty-seven  miles,  and  thence  to 
Oil  City,  seven  miles  further,  the  latter  section  under  the 
charter  of  the  Oil  Creek  Eailroad  Company.  Between 
Meadville  and  Franklin  this  route  follows  the  eastern 
bank  of  French  Creek ;  and  from  Franklin  to  Oil  City, 
the  south-western  bank  of  the  Alleghany.  Around  Mead 
ville,  which  is  very  pleasantly  situated  among  the  hills, 
and  nearly  all  the  way  to  Franklin,  the  country  has  been 
cleared  and  is  under  cultivation.  The  bottom-lands, 
though  here  and  there  washed  away  by  recent  floods,  are 
as  inviting  in  quality  as  the  prices  of  farm  produce  are 
tempting  in  amount.  The  uplands  have  also  been  much 
more  generally  reclaimed  along  this  line  than  on  that  be 
tween  Corry  and  Titusville.  The  line  of  the  Philadelphia 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  35 

and  Erie,  from  Cony  to  Irvine,  may  be  regarded  as  a 
medium  between  the  other  two.  In  general,  it  may  be 
observed  that  the  wide  distribution  of  boulder-stones  over 
the  surface,  and  the  difficulty  of  ascent  and  descent  of  the 
uplands,  constitute  more  formidable  impediments  to  farm 
ing  than  the  cold  or  tenacious  nature  of  the  soil.  On 
some  of  the  uplands  or  slopes,  thirty  bushels  of  wheat,  and 
more  than  twice  that  quantity  of  corn  to  the  acre,  have 
been  raised. 

At  either  Titusville  or  Oil  City  the  stranger  finds  him 
self  in  a  new  world,  this  impression  being  no  way  lessened 
by  hearing  others  speak  about  the  latest  news  from  "the 
States,"  or  returning  to  them.  This  change  addresses  it 
self  to  every  sense.  The  objects  which  he  is  too  apt  to 
touch,  in  spite  of  all  precautions,  have  a  greasy,  clammy 
feel  His  nostrils  are  assailed  by  gaseous  odors,  such  as 
they  probably  never  before  inhaled  in  the  open  air.  Into 
his  ears  is  continually  poured  a  stream  of  speech,  in  a  dia 
lect  essentially  different  from  that  taught  in  Webster  or 
Worcester.  Such  phrases  as  "  surface  indications,"  "  dry 
territory,"  "  developed  territory,"  "  oil-smeller,"  with  the 
names  of  a  dozen  implements  unknown  to  the  outside 
world,  all  uttered  with  earnestness  and  volubility,  at  once 
set  his  half-bewildered  wits  at  work  in  quest  of  their 
meaning.  He  tastes  petroleum  and  salt  water,  of  course, 
to  satisfy  his  curiosity  or  acquire  information  of  their 
qualities.  Then  he  sees — what  does  he  not  see,  in  the  line 
of  novelties  ? — tall  derricks  and  huge  tanks  standing  on 
side-walks  or  in  gardens ;  engines  running  and  walking- 
beams  moving  sedately  up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  what 
remain  of  the  original  forests  ;  drilling  apparatus  at  work ; 
immense  flat-boats  or  rafts  floating  down-stream  with  the 


36  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

current,  or  drawn  upward  by  three  or  four  horses  abreast, 
plunging  along  the  bed  of  the  creek  or  river.  If  the  wea 
ther  be  cold,  these  poor  creatures  will  be  seen  not  only 
straining  their  muscles  with  desperation,  as  the  inhuman 
driver  applies  the  lash,  but  with  their  manes,  tails,  and 
sides  thickly  incrusted  with  ice,  formed  from  the  water 
splashed  up,  as  they  stumbled  in  the  river-bed.  If  it  be 
later  in  the  season,  he  may  behold  a  mile  in  length  of 
boats  rushing  violently  down-stream,  that  being  the  day 
when  an  artificial  freshet  has  been  made  for  this  purpose 
by  the  opening  of  dams  in  the  upper  part  of  Oil  Creek. 
As  preliminary  to  all  these  novel  spectacles,  he  has  been 
treated  to  the  filthy  streets  and  wooden  side-walks  of  Cor- 
ry,  Titusville,  and  Oil  City,  the  last  bearing  away  the  palm 
in  point  of  disarray  and  disgust.  He  has  also  been  made 
acquainted  with  the  luxuries  of  hotel  life,  especially  in 
regard  to  sleeping  accommodations,  with  from  four  to  ten 
straw  beds  in  a  single  room,  each  tenanted  by  one,  two,  or 
three  sufferers,  according  to  the  pressure  exercised  by  the 
travelling  public.  On  the  parlor  floors  he  has  learned  to 
become  reconciled  to  an  inch  deep  of  mud  or  dust,  while 
leathery  beefsteaks  are  no  longer  regarded  with  contempt ; 
for  with  its  many  disadvantages,  Petrolia  has  the  one 
transcendent  merit  of  creating  a  vigorous  appetite. 

With  very  little  loss  of  time  he  takes  to  exploring  the 
valley.  I  shall  assume  that  he  begins  with  the  region 
back  of  Titusville,  that  Pennsylvania  Venice,  arising  out 
of  the  mud,  which  in  April  is  still  sufficiently  deep  and 
liquid  to  float  a  whole  navy  of  gondolas.  If  the  side 
walks  are  a  little  uneven,  let  them  not  be  despised ;  for 
the  time  is  coming  when  a  single  plank  will  elicit  an  out 
burst  of  welcome,  as  a  god-send.  Then  there  is  Oil  City, 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  37 

at  the  mere  mention  of  which,  Titusville  is  transformed 
into  a  capital  with  all  the  charms  of  Dublin  or  the  neat 
ness  of  Philadelphia.  In  the  heart  of  that  borough  he 
finds  large  hotels  or  caravansaries  by  the  half-dozen,  and 
as  many  more  in  course  of  erection.  On  every  hand  new 
houses  are  rising  under  the  incessant  blows  of  the  carpen 
ter's  hammer.  At  morning,  mid-day,  and  evening,  the 
screams  of  steam-whistles  at  the  various  machine-shops, 
foundries,  and  refineries,  are  painfully  long  and  loud.  In 
the  various  houses  or  sheds  thrown  up  on  the  principal 
streets,  where  lots  sell  at  New- York  City  prices,  he  finds 
whole  platoons  of  land  agents,  lawyers,  speculators,  the 
agents  of  merchants  and  manufacturers,  whose  wares  are 
likely  to  be  in  demand  there,  "  drummers  "  of  all  kinds 
and  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  He  can  hardly  turn 
a  corner  without  being  "  drilled  to  the  third  rock  "  by  a 
pair  of  keen,  inquisitive  eyes,  followed  by  the  inquiry : 
"Do  you  wish  some  first-rate  oil  territory,  sir?"  "I 
would  like  to  sell  you  a  fourth  interest  in  a  fifty-barrel 
well."  "  Can't  I  furnish  you  with  Jones's  new  patent 
blower  or  an  Excelsior  steam-engine  ?"  In  the  midst  of 
such  interrogatories,  it  is  gratifying  to  learn  that  Mr. 
Smith  yesterday  "  struck  "  a  two  hundred  barrel  well  on 
Cherry  Kun,  and  that  Mr.  Brown's  has  doubled  its  yield 
since  he  had  it  "reamed  "  out  and  that  new  "blower" 
put  in. 

Determined,  however,  on  piercing  the  heart  of  the  coun 
try,  he  hires  a  horse  at  ten  dollars  per  day,  and  sets  out 
on  his  pilgrimage  down  the  valley.  Immediately  below 
Titusville,  and  above  the  confluence  of  the  east  and  west 
branches  of  Oil  Creek,  he  enters  the  celebrated  "Watson 
flats,  a  short  distance  beyond  which  he  observes  the  der« 


38  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

rick  of  Colonel  Drake,  erected  in  1859,  the  first  work  of 
the  kind  in  Petrolia.  More  than  one  hundred  others,  new 
and  old,  may  now  be  counted  within  one  mile  of  Titus- 
ville,  especially  near  the  point  of  confluence.  Every  thing 
betokens  disorder,  disarray,  indifference  to  all  except  the 
one  grand  object  of  pursuit.  There  are  no  roads,  no 
fences,  and  scarcely  laws  or  regulations,  except  a  few  laid 
down  in  the  leases  or  imposed  by  common  consent.  In  a 
place  where  seemingly  meum  and  tuum  are  confounded ; 
where  every  man  appears  to  act  for  the  day,  regardless  of 
the  morrow,  one  might  reasonably  suppose  that  violence  and 
even  bloodshed  would  be  matters  of  almost  hourly  occur 
rence.  So  far  from  this,  however,  I  am  happy  to  say  that 
there  is  probably  no  place  in  Christendom  where  human 
life  is  safer,  and  less  danger  to  "  portable  property  "  exists, 
except  from  freshets  and  extravagant  charges,  than  in  and 
around  Titusville. 

Proceeding  down  the  creek,  where  one's  best  road,  off 
the  railway,  is  the  uneven  bottom  of  that  impetuous 
stream,  the  valley  is  found  to  grow  quite  narrow — barely 
one  hundred  yards  from  bluff  to  bluff.  On  the  heights, 
overhanging  the  railroad  and  creek,  where  heavy  forests 
of  pine,  hemlock,  or  white  oak  once  grew,  little  now,  save 
brushwood  and  stumps  with  long,  horizontal  lines  of  shale 
and  sandstone  behind  are  visible,  the  scene  being  here  and 
there  diversified  by  a  small  unpainted  cabin,  or  by  the 
ubiquitous  derrick.  Between  the  precipitous  heights  the 
creek  describes  numerous  sinuosities,  always  apparently 
butting  its  head  with  full  force  against  the  steepest  banks ; 
in  reality  having  made  them  such  by  dashing  with  such 
impetuosity  against  the  rocks  underneath. 

Here,  as  well  as  higher  up,  one  meets  tall  gentlemen, 


Appearance  of  the  Country  ^  etc.  39 

encased  install,  shining  boots,  or  what  were  such  in  their 
primitive  state  ;  wearing  tall,  black  coats,  tall,  black  beards, 
and  carrying  tall,  black  valises.  They  are  adventurers, 
in  search  of  lands,  appointments,  interests  in  wells,  or  in 
dividuals,  whom  they  can  sell  and  deliver  equally  with 
their  property. 

For  the  five  or  six  miles  immediately  below  the  Watson 
flats,  little  boring  has  been  done — ten  or  a  dozen  wells  to 
the  mile  or  so.  -  The  section  is  pronounced  "  dry  terri 
tory."  At  Miller's  farm  or  station  symptoms  of  more 
activity  are  manifest ;  and  at  Shaffer's,  where  the  railroad 
terminates,  a  cluster  of  hotels  and  another  of  shipping- 
offices  have  sprung  up.  To  that  point  boats,  filled  with 
petroleum,  in  bulk  or  in  barrels,  are  dragged  up-stream  at 
nearly  all  seasons.  The  arrangements  for  unloading  this 
from  the  boats,  hoisting  it  (by  means  of  horse-power)  to 
the  top  of  a  high  trestle-work,  and  thence  conveying  it  to 
the  extensive  sheds  which  adjoin  the  railroad,  are  exten 
sive  and  well  adapted  to  the  purpose.  The  only  draw 
back  to  the  whole  is  the  cruel  treatment  of  the  horse, 
whose  lot  has  been  made  worse  by  the  great  discovery, 
though  its  benefits  have  been  felt  by  whales  disporting 
themselves  in  the  Arctic  seas.  One's  first  impulse  is  to 
curse  me  day  petroleum  was  first  discovered,  and  to  knock 
down  the  barbarians  by  whom  the  task  of  applying  the 
lash  has  been  voluntarily  accepted. 

Beyond  Shaffer's  the  nearly  level  bottoms  begin  to 
widen,  affording  the  creek  more  abundant  space  for  its 
frequent  gyrations.  Each  of  the  half-moon  flats  beyond 
has  a  distinct  name,  usually  given  it  after  that  of  the  for 
mer  proprietor,  in  connection  with  the  farm  lying  imme 
diately  above  and  behind.  Every  flat  has  also  its  sys- 


4:0  Appearance  of  the  Country ',  etc. 

tern  of  derricks,  and,  in  general,  characteristics  of  its  own 
distinguishing  it  from  those  above  and  below.  In  passing 
downward  the  derricks  will  be  seen  to  hug  the  bluffs  more 
closely,  and  even  to  climb  them,  in  places,  to  the  height 
of  one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  For  about 
midway  between  Titusville  and  Oil  City  the  stranger  has 
entered  the  great  heart  of  the  oil  region,  where  the  Sher 
man,  the  Noble,  the  Empire,  the  Craft,  the  "Wild-cat,  the 
Jersey,  the  Coquette,  and  other  famous  wells  were  former 
ly,  or  are  now,  wont  to  discharge  (by  flowing)  their  hun 
dreds  of  barrels  per  day.  Each  of  these  famous  producers 
has  its  own  street  or  block  of  black,  dirty,  greasy  tanks, 
from  two  or  three  to  ten  or  twelve  in  number,  with  an 
aggregate  capacity  of  between  five  thousand  and  fifteen 
thousand  barrels.  Most  of  these  are  roofed  over  and  lo 
cated  close  to  the  creek,  with  a  view  to  easy  loading  in 
the  barges.  From  their  bottoms  exude  streams  of  the 
dark  green  liquid,  which  crawls  along  by  slimy  paths  to 
the  creek,  covering  its  entire  surface  with  a  film  of  petro 
leum.  Many  barrels  of  it  thus  escape  every  day,  to  the 
deep  regret  of  the  looker-on,  who  wishes  he  had  the  facil 
ities,  with  the  right  to  use  them,  for  preventing  such  a 
waste.  With  a  clear  sky  overhead,  the  different  hues  formed 
by  this  "  oil  cast  upon  the  troubled  waters  "  are  exceed 
ingly  delicate  and  beautiful,  and  can  hardly  have  failed 
to  suggest  the  extraction  of  certain  rich  and  rare  colors,  as 
analine,  from  this  wonderful  product. 

On  every  farm  henceforward  is  a  village,  bearing  the 
farm  name,  or  the  affix  "  ville "  as  a  substitute.  The 
names  and  the  settlements  are,  indeed,  about  equally  out 
landish.  If  the  one  be  prosy,  the  other  is  slatternly,  in 
muddy  weather  indescribably  so.  Thus,  within  the  space 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  41 

of  ten  miles,  we  have  the  names  of  "Funkville,"  "Me- 
Clintockville,"  "  Tarr  Farm,"  "  Kouseville,"  "  Khind 
Farm,"  as  well  as  other  places  of  less  repute.  "  Petroleum 
Centre,"  as  it  has  a  decent  name,  has  a  pretty  situation,  a 
good  bridge,  and  is  laid  out  with  some  degree  of  regular 
ity.  But  as  its  site  is  the  prettiest,  so  the  naming  of  it 
would  seem  to  have  absorbed  all  the  poetry  in  the  valley. 
The  village  usually  consists  of  a  number  of  oil  companies' 
offices,  about  twice  as  many  boarding-houses,  perhaps  a 
school-house,  where  religious  services  are  held  occasionally 
on  Sundays,  a  hotel  or  two  with  their  wonted  accommo 
dations,  in  the  shape  of  sitting-rooms  and  bed-rooms,  for 
which  the  modest  price  of  three  to  four  dollars  per  day  is 
charged.  In  Kouseville,  Plumer,  and  one  or  two  other 
points,  banks  have  been  established.  Post-offices  abound, 
nearly  every  farm  having  one  ;  and  the  telegraph  extends 
to  every  nook  and  corner  in  the  country  as  fast  as  a  good 
well  is  struck.  The  number  of  houses  in  these  villages 
or  hamlets  ranges  from  ten  to  fifty,  and  the  population, 
exclusive  of  strangers  and  pilgrims,  from  one  hundred  to 
eight  hundred.  The  houses  are  built  of  weather-boards 
and  strips  only,  being  guiltless  of  paint  on  the  outside  or 
of  lath  and  plaster  within.  On  some  farms  the  streets  are 
laid  out  with  a  fair  degree  of  order,  and  the  more  elevated 
spots  are  selected  ;  in  others,  the  law  of  lawlessness  pre 
vails,  and  a  goodly  number  got  immersed  in  the  late 
freshet.  As  to  drainage,  fencing,  shrubbery,  or  gardening, 
these  are  all  in  the  future  tense  and  conditional  mood. 
Once,  and  only  once,  I  did  notice  a  discharged  soldier  en 
gaged  in  planting  a  little  grass-plot  in  front  of  his  cabin. 
Probably  one  half  the  engineers  and  laborers  sleep  in 
cribs  attached  to  the  engine-houses,  and  some  even  cook 


42  Appearance  of  the  Country ',  etc. 

their  own  meals  there,  in  order  to  escape  a  charge  of  seven 
or  eight  dollars  per  week  for  board  and  the  coarse  accom 
modations  had  in  the  boarding-houses.  If  there  is  one 
cow  in  that  part  of  Petrolia,  she  escaped  my  observation. 
Even  the  dog-tribe  are  far  from  being  numerous. 

Nearly  every  mile  along  the  lower  part  of  the  valley, 
a  "  run  "  discharges  its  waters  into  the  creek,  running  at 
the  bottom  of  a  ravine,  more  or  less  deep  and  wide,  ac 
cording  to  the  volume  of  its  waters.  The  principal  of 
these  entering  from  the  east  are  Bull  Eun  and  Cherry 
Kun,  (the  latter  at  Eouseville,  three  miles  above  Oil  City.) 
On  the  west  side  are  Bennehoof,  Cherry  tree,  and  Corn- 
planter  Runs.  On  Cherry  Eun,  however,  are  more  works 
than  on  all  the  other  tributaries  of  the  creek ;  while  in 
point  of  productiveness  it  disputes  with  Oil  Creek  the 
claim  of  supremacy.  At  its  mouth,  and  for  some  miles 
above,  the  derricks  stand  as  thickly  as  the  masts  of  ship 
ping  in  the  East  Eiver,  at  New-York.  They  evidently 
mean  to  dispute  possession  of  the  uplands  with  the  squat 
ter  sovereigns. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable"  phenomena  of  the  valley 
is  the  large  proportion  of  idle  wells — in  some  localities 
at  least  nine  tenths,  and  in  the  most  active  three  fourths. 
The  visitor  will  hear  various  reasons  assigned  for  this  un 
expected  idleness  —  reasons  which  I  propose  to  discuss 
elsewhere,  contenting  myself  for  the  present  with  noticing 
the  fact. 

The  highway  is  coextensive  with  the  bottom ;  and  if 
that  be  not  found  sufficiently  capacious,  the  traveller  is  at 
full  liberty  to  annex  a  portion  of  the  bluff  or  table-land. 
As  the  soil  is  clayey,  and  as  it  rains  every  other  day,  dur 
ing  the  spring  months,  while  literally  no  attention  is  paid 


Appearance  of  the  Country r,  etc.  43 

to  the  roads,  (so-called,)  the  reader  will  please  fill  up  the 
picture,  as  to  travelling  facilities,  to  suit  his  own  taste.  If 
to  the  sticky  paste  be  added  wriggling  rivulets  of  water, 
coated  with  grease,  settling  in  numerous  basins  or  pud 
dles,  across  which  one  has  to  work  his  passage,  by  leaping 
from  prostrated  tree-stem  to  stump,  plank,  rail,  iron  tube, 
stone,  old  boiler,  walking-beam,  or  whatever  other  object 
he  can  reach — these  operations  being  accompanied  by  an 
occasional  downfall,  and  a  frequent  splash  of  mud  and 
oil  up  to  the  hat — perhaps  the  indescribable  enjoyments 
of  a  foot-march  through  Petrolia  may  be  conceived.  But 
I  had  almost  forgotten  that  the  stranger  who  has  been 
thus  far  conducted  through  the  country  is  supposed  to  be 
a  gay  cavalier,  not  "  doing  "  the  region  on  his  own  nethei 
extremities. 

As  if  to  afford  frequent  opportunities  to  wash  and  be 
clean,  the  creek  cuts  across  the  highway,  that  is,  the  val 
ley,  every  half-mile  or  mile.  The  horse  can  ford  it  with 
out  trouble ;  but  for  the  humble  pedestrian  there  is  no 
means  of  crossing  save  by  a  ferry-boat  or  rope-ferry, 
where  the  toll  is  five  cents  for  each  trip.  These  "  institu 
tions"  are  chartered  under  authority  of  the  State,  to  whose 
treasury  each  pays  an  annual  tax  of  ten  dollars.  For  this 
paltry  sum  he  secures  a  monopoly  for  a  long  distance 
above  and  below  ;  and  as  it  sometimes  happens  that,  af 
ter  a  good  well  has  been  struck,  a  new  ferry  must  be 
started,  it  becomes  necessary  to  pay  Charon  No.  1  a  "  roy 
alty  "  of  so  much  on  every  passenger  transported  a  dis 
tance  of  seventy-five  feet !  I  fully  agree  with  the  obser 
vation  made  by  one  of  these  boatmen,  that  he  would  not 
exchange  his  skiff  for  a  good  oil-well. 

Added  to  the  natural  disorder  prevalent  in  the  oil  re- 


4:4:  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

gions,  are  the  wrecks  produced  by  the  great  freshet  of  this 
spring,  the  most  destructive  that  ever  visited  any  portion 
of  the  Northern  States.  It  not  only  swept  down  the 
river  numbers  of  houses  and  immense  quantities  of  pe 
troleum,  but  deposited  all  along  the  low  lands  fragments 
of  boats,  dwellings,  engine-houses,  furniture,  fuel;  over 
turning  derricks,  carrying  off  wooden  platforms  laden 
with  engines,  and  hurling  the  whole  with  resistless  force 
against  bridges,  which  shared  the  common  fate.  The 
side-walks  in  Oil  City  have  been  left  wherever  the  capri 
cious  element  chose  to  deposit  them  ;  a  huge  flat-bottomed 
boat  was  dropped  in  the  principal  street ;  dwellings  and 
factories  were  lifted  from  their  foundations,  and  moved 
hither  or  thither — perhaps  to  encroach  on  the  thorough 
fares,  perhaps  to  stand  at  a  different  angle  to  them.  With 
in  half  a  mile  of  the  built-up  portion  of  that  ucity," 
boasting  of  its  burgess  and  council,  the  carcasses  of  no 
fewer  than  twenty  horses,  which  had  perished  during  the 
flood,  were  suffered  to  lie  unburied  nearly  a  full  month, 
and  may  be  perfuming  the  atmosphere  to  this  very  day ! 

Oil  refineries,  belching  forth  clouds  of  black  smoke,  or 
(as  is  quite  common)  lying  idle,  form  one  of  the  features 
in  the  landscape  of  those  valleys.  They  are  for  the  most 
part  small  establishments,  each  with  a  capacity  not  ex 
ceeding  three  hundred  barrels  per  week.  The  mode  of 
treating  petroleum,  so  as  to  prepare  it  for  use,  is  explained 
in  another  chapter. 

The  stranger  will  quickly  master  the  difference  between 
wells  in  progress  and  those  completed.  The  engine- 
houses  and  derricks  of  the  one  are  comparatively  clean 
and  white  ;  after  striking  oil,  however,  they  get  coated 
with  the  universal  pigment,  and  turn  as  black  as  the 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  45 

smoke  rolling  out  of  the  chimneys.  Men's  clothes  are, 
of  course,  in  keeping  with  the  general  scene.  Water 
proofs  are  made  without  cost  in  Petrolia. 

The  various  tributaries  of  Oil  Creek,  and  the  Upper 
Alleghany,  are  too  small  and  rapid  to  afford  facilities  for 
boating ;  hence,  the  oil  has  to  be  conveyed  -by  wagons, 
which  are  hauled  over  roads,  whose  equals  exist  no 
where  else.  Formed  originally  by  the  teamsters  to  suit 
their  own  convenience,  they  are  kept  in  order  only  by 
the  debris  which  is  washed  down  from  the  heights,  and 
remain  floating  masses  of  slush,  huge  fragments  of  rock 
filling  more  or  less  of  their  unfathomable  depths.  It 
would  appear  that  the  only  conceivable  way  of  mending 
their  ways  in  Petrolia  was  to  apply  fresh  curses  and  kicks 
to  the  poor  horses. 

Arriving  at  that  perfection  of  filth  and  disorder,  Oil 
City,  the  visitor  finds  a  newly  extemporized  borough,  a 
mile  and  a  half  in  length,  which  hugs  the  base  of  the 
heights  west  of  Oil  Creek ;  then  crosses  it,  and  pushes 
up  the  face  of  the  eastern  slope  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet,  where  at  length  it  begins  to  expand  itself,  as  if  con 
scious  that  it  can  do  so  safely  for  the  first  time.  The  view 
presented  from  "  Cottage  Hill  "  is  certainly  picturesque, 
and  the  contrast  presented  between  that  charming  spot 
and  the  slovenly  avenue  beneath  cannot  fail  to  make  a 
profound  impression.  The  noble  Alleghany,  three  hun 
dred  yards  wide,  sweeping  along  the  bases  of  the  hills, 
and  receiving,  not  only  its  tributes  of  numerous  creeks, 
with  their  many-colored  waters,  but  scores  of  barges, 
steamboats,  and  other  vessels,  constitutes  a  most  attractive 
part  of  the  scene,  the  effect  perhaps  heightened  by  the 
physical  lawlessness  of  the  lower  city.  In  the  distance 


46  Appearance  of  the  Gounfoy,  etc. 

• 
round-shouldered  and  pyramidal  hills,  their  angles  and 

terraces  standing  -out  sharply,  constitute  a  grand  back 
ground  to  the  picture. 

Up  and  down  the  Alleghany  for  about  twenty  miles ; 
along  French,  and  Sugar  Creeks  for  half  that  distance,  as 
also  along  the  various  tributaries  of  all  those  waters,  with 
in  the  distance  stated,  the  scene  is  similar  to  Oil  Creek, 
though  mostly  in  a  less  marked  degree. 

THE   CHIEF  TOWNS. 

The  principal  centres  of  population  and  business  in 
Petrolia  are  the  following : 

Corry,  situated  at  the  point  where  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  "Western  Eailroad  intersects  the  Philadelphia  and 
Erie,  and  where  the  Oil  Creek  line  terminates,  is  a  thriv 
ing  village,  containing  between  three  thousand  and  four 
thousand  inhabitants.  Half  a  dozen  years  ago  it  had  nei 
ther  a  local  habitation  nor  a  name,  and  scarcely  as  many 
log-huts  in  the  heavy  forests.  Indeed,  it  is  still  literally 
"  in  the  woods,"  the  valuable  portions  of  which  have  alone 
disappeared,  leaving  the  stumps  and  roots  standing  in  the 
principal  thoroughfares.  Corry  is  pleasantly  situated,  is 
regularly  laid  out,  and  is  fast  becoming  a  prominent  busi 
ness  point.  The  establishment  of  the  Downer  oil-refinery 
there,  (the  largest  in  that  region,)  by  some  sagacious  men 
from  Boston,  gave  the  place  a  great  impetus,  which  prom 
ises  to  continue  for  some  time.  Ordinary  sized  lots  on 
the  principal  street  sell  at  from  two  thousand  to  three 
thousand  dollars  each.  In  no  part  of  the  country  are 
more  new  houses  in  progress.  Corry  contains  two  banks, 
four  churches,  one  respectable  hotel,  public  schools, 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  47 

a  lecture- room,  (in  which  poor  concerts  draw  better  than 
lectures,)  a  newspaper-office,  from  -which  a  weekly  inde 
pendent  journal  (The  Telegraph)  is  issued.  In  its  popula 
tion  the  Eastern  element  predominates. 

Titusvitte,  named  after  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  that 
valley,  contained  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants 
before  the  oil  excitement ;  it  now  contains  probably  five 
thousand,  besides  a  considerable  floating  element.  It  has 
four  or  five  refineries,  barrel-factories,  machine-shops,  and 
foundries,  (the  whole  employing  nearly  five  hundred 
men ;)  also  two  banks,  the  usual  assortment  of  churches, 
(which  appear  to  well  sustained,)  a  theatre,  and  a  large 
number  of  hotels.  The  only  newspaper  issued  is  a  week 
ly,  (The  Reporter,)  which  is  independent  in  politics,  and 
conducted  with  spirit.  The  proprietors  contemplate  the 
establishment  of  a  daily  shortly.  The  situation  of  Titus- 
ville  is  too  level  and  low  to  be  e*asily  drained ;  and  in  fact 
the  attempt  would  seem  to  have  been  given  up.  %  The 
place  is  regularly  laid  out,  however,  and  the  outskirts  are 
decidedly  attractive.  Population  orderly,  enterprising, 
and  largely  on  the  increase.  The  derrick  is  already  be 
ginning  to  make  inroads  on  the  gardens.  If  successful 
in  the  search  after  oil,  there  is  no  telling  to  what  figure 
the  price  of  lots  will  advance.  Already  they  are  higher 
than  in  Corry. 

As  Oil  City  has  the  most  disgusting  name  in  all  Petro- 
lia,  so  every  thing  else  is  in  keeping  therewith.  One  of 
its  first  and  best  sustained  institutions  was  a  race-course, 
laid  out1  on  the  summit  of  the  highest  hill,  "  for  improving 
the  breed  of  horses;"  while  those  wretched  quadrupeds 
were  left  to  flounder,  lie  down,  and  die  on  the  horrid 
thoroughfares,  termed  streets,  below.  Folly  kills  itself ; 


48  Appearance,  of  the  Country,  etc. 

for,  except  on  Cottage  Hill,  the  place  has  almost  ceased  to 
grow.  Even  with  the  extension  of  the  railroad  thither, 
it  is  "  a  finished  town."  Population,  about  five  thousand, 
besides  a  thousand  or  two  of  floating  elements.  Oil  City 
has  two  banks,  half  a  dozen  hotels,  ten  oil  refineries,  four 
or  five  churches,  (including  those  in  progress,)  and  a  pub 
lic  school  building,  nearly  completed.  Two  weekly  news 
papers,  representing  the  great  political  parties,  are  printed 
there.  The  creek  at  Oil  City  is  about  sixty  yards  wide, 
and  is  crossed  by  a  trembling  structure,  termed  a  bridge, 
which  the  authorities  permitted  a  company  to  erect  on  the 
foundations  of  the  one  swept  away,  charging  five  cents 
for  the  privilege  of  crossing !  The  creek  divides  Oil  City 
into  two  nearly  equally  large  sections ;  though  that  on  its 
western  side  is  more  populous.  A  suburb  is  rising  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  the  Alleghany,  which  is  connected  with 
"  the  city  "  by  two  rope-ferries.  The  place  is  altogether 
a  neur  creation.  An  interesting  fact  in  connection  with 
it  is,  that  an  Indian  tribe  has  recently  put  in  a  claim  for 
the  ownership  of  two  thirds  of  its  site,  which,  it  is  asserted, 
was  granted  by  the  State  to  "  Cornplanter,''  a  noted  chief 
of  the  Senecas,  about  thirty  years  ago.  The  matter  is 
about  to  be  litigated. 

Franklin  is  situated  at  the  mouth  of  French  Creek, 
seven  miles  below  Oil  City,  and  contains  nearly  three 
thousand  inhabitants,  besides  a  large  ingredient  of  "  drift." 
Its  site  is  on  the  whole  pleasant,  and  the  streets  are  spa 
cious  and  regularly  laid  out.  Having  been  a  county-seat 
before  the  era  of  petroleum,  its  public  buildings  (court 
house,  churches,  etc.)  are  more  substantial  than  either 
stylish  or  outlandish.  ISTew  churches  and  public  schools, 
both  spacious  and  elegant,  are  among  the  improvements 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  49 

contemplated  at  an  early  day.  At  different  points  in  the 
village  derricks  have  arisen ;  but  many  of  them  are  now 
idle,  and  withal  far  from  being  attractive  objects.  Frank 
lin  is  situated  on  the  south-west  side  of  French  Creek, 
which  is  there  one  hundred  yards  broad.  The  lower 
bridge  crossing  it  was  carried  away  by  the  flood ;  but  the 
magnificent  suspension  bridge  across  the  Alleghany  es 
caped.  Franklin  has  two  weekly  newspapers,  which  ap 
pear  to  be  well  supported.  The  bulk  of  its  popu""ation 
still  belong  to  the  old  stock  of  settlers.  Exceptiag  a  bar 
rel-factory,  and  some  small  oil  refineries,  (on  the  other  side 
of  the  creek,)  the  manufactures  of  the  place  are  of  little 
account.  As  a  distributing  point,  it  ranks  next  in  im 
portance  to  the  places  already  noticed. 

Franklin  boasts  of  an  antiquity  of  a  full  century.  The 
point  below  the  confluence  of  the  river  and  creek  was 
selected  by  the  French  for  the  site  of  one  of  their  chain 
of  forts  connecting  their  Canadian  possessions  with  Louis 
iana  ;  but  of  that  work  not  a  trace  is  now  visible.  In 
1754,  General  Montcalm  visited  the  place,  and  in  his  re 
port  of  it  took  occasion  to  describe  the  war-dances  and 
religious  worship  of  the  aborigines.  Among  other  mat 
ters  he  refers  to  their  mixing  oil,  gathered  from  the  neigh 
boring  creek,  with  their  war-paint ;  also  to  their  use  of  it 
in  sacrifices,  kindling  it  with  torches,  at  the  sight  of  which 
they  set  up  a  shout  that  made  the  valleys  ring.  Strange 
that  a  whole  century  should  have  elapsed  before  the  pale 
face  set  up  his  shout  over  the  discovery. 

Meadvitte  is  the  largest,  prettiest,  and  most  cultivated 
place  in  the  oil  regions,  having  between  eight  thousand 
and  nine  thousand  inhabitants.  Its  situation  on  a  trib 
utary  of  French  Creek,  surrounded  by  gently  swelling 
3 


50  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

and  well-cultivated  hills,  is  equally  healthy  and  attractive. 
Meadville  is  noted  as  a  seat  of  learning,  having,  besides  an 
excellent  system  of  public  schools,  two  colleges,  one  (Al- 
leghany)  belonging  to  the  Methodist,  and  the  other  (a  theo 
logical  school)  to  the  Unitarian  denomination.  The  open 
ing  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Kailway  has  con 
tributed  greatly  to  the  progress  of  that  place ;  and  it  de 
rives  a  portion  of  its  prosperity  from  Petrolia,  though 
twenty  miles  west  of  the  field  of  operations.  Three  week 
ly  newspapers  are  printed  there,  and  the  Eailway  Hotel 
claims  to  be  the  best  in  the  world. 

Warren,  like  Corry  and  Meadville,  lies  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  oil  region,  being  about  fifty  miles  above  Oil  City 
by  river.  Navigation,  however,  is  open  only  to  Irvine, 
and  that  after  a  rise  of  water.  Warren  is  an  old  county 
town,  on  the  line  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Erie  Kailroad, 
and  contains  nearly  twenty-five  hundred  inhabitants,  with 
the  usual  public  buildings  and  newspapers.  It  has  just 
begun  to  feel  sensibly  the  ground-swell  of  the  petroleum 
development.  A  number  of  wells  are  in  progress  near 
Warren,  and,  if  successful,  it  will  leap  upward  like  Corry 
or  Titusville.  Irvine  is  an  unpretending  railroad  station, 
seven  miles  below  Warren,  with  a  well-kept  hotel,  and 
two  or  three  small  factories. 

Tideoute  is  an  old  village,  or  rather  two  villages  joined 
together,  pleasantly  situated  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Al- 
leghany,  fourteen  miles  below  Irvine.  It  has  two  church 
es,  hotels,  barrel-factories,  and  about  two  thousand  inhab 
itants.  The  famous  Economy  wells  lie  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river. 

Tionesta  is  a  growing  village,  with  perhaps  five  hun 
dred  inhabitants,  about  ten  miles  below  Tideoute.  It  is 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  51 

situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  at  the  mouth  of 
Tionesta  Creek.  East  and  "West-Hickory  are  incipient 
villages  higher  up-stream,  as  is  President  lower  down  on 
the  Alleghany.  All  these  have  their  groups  of  wells 
completed  or  going  down  ;  and  may  be  said  to  have  been 
called  into  existence  by  the  discovery  of  petroleum. 

THE   CLIMATE 

of  that  section  of  Pennsylvania  is  a  subject  of  universal 
complaint  in  the  spring  season,  when  it  is  certain,  the  in 
habitants  say,  to  rain  at  least  every  other  day.  There  is 
a  good  deal  of  truth  in  this  remark.  From  the  middle  of 
March  till  the  latter  part  of  April,  there  were  never  three 
consecutive  days,  and  seldom  two,  without  rain  or  snow 
falling.  As  throughout  the  whole  Mississippi  valley,  the 
prevailing  winds  are  from  the  cardinal  points,  the  south 
and  east  gales  being  hot  and  moist — in  other  words, 
bringing  thither  from  the  Atlantic  and  the  Mexican  Gulf 
the  moisture-laden  vapors,  which,  upon  being  struck  by 
dry,  cold,  currents  from  the  north  and  west,  give  out  their 
superabundant  moisture  in  the  form  of  rain,  hail,  snow, 
etc.,  according  to  the  season.  The  atmospheric  current 
preceding  such  a  visitation  is  invariably  succeeded  by  one 
blowing  from  the  opposite  direction,  except  where  it  is 
deflected  from  its  course  by  mountains  or  waters.  In  fact, 
it  would  appear  as  if  the  precipitation  of  rain  were  di 
rectly  due  to  two  currents  blowing  in  contrary  directions 
at  the  same  time — the  lower  from  the  south  or  east,  and 
the  higher  from  the  north  or  west,  and  that  with  the  gra 
dual  descent  of  the  former  toward  the  earth's  surface  the 
wringing-out  process  in  the  latter  took  place,  thus  creating 
a  vacuum,  into  which  a  fresh  gale  rushes  from  the  ocean. 


52  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

The  dry,  magnetic  winds  from  the  interior  would  soon 
lick  up  the  moisture  not  carried  off  by  the  streams,  were 
it  not  for  puddling  of  the  surface  to  so  great  a  depth  by 
animals  and  vehicles.  These  general  observations  extend 
to  the  entire  heart  of  the  continent,  as  well  as  to  the  oil 
region  of  Pennsylvania. 

In  the  latter,  however,  a  local  influence -exists,  such  as 
is  not  so  sensibly  felt  further  westward  and  southward.  At 
the  lower  end  of  Lake  Erie,  large  quantities  of  ice  remain 
long  after  the  Western  rivers,  and  even  the  upper  portion 
of  that  lake,  have  been  cleared.  The  hot,  moist  winds 
from  the  Atlantic  naturally  make  for  the  lower  end  of  the 
lake,  where  they  assist  in  thawing  the  ice  ;  but  in  so  doing 
are  themselves  wrung  out  by  coming  in  contact  with  the 
belt  of  cold  atmosphere  immediately  above  it.  Hence 
those  frequent  changes  in  the  direction  of  the  winds  at 
that  season,  the  numerous  rainy  days  or  parts  of  days,  not 
making,  in  the  aggregate,  perhaps  more  inches  of  water 
than  elsewhere  under  the  same  latitude ;  but  coming  at 
short  notice,  and  upsetting  calculations,  make  living  there 
more  unpleasant  than  it  otherwise  would  be.  One  interest 
alone,  the  hotel-keepers,  reap  large  profits  from  this  dis 
pensation  ;  while  the  servants  are  oppressed  with  double 
duty  if  they  attempt  to  preserve  cleanliness  in  spite  of 
muddy  boots,  muddy  clothing,  muddy  luggage.  If  it  be 
true  that  every  man  must  eat  his  peck  of  dirt  some  time, 
in  no  other  region  is  there  an  opportunity  for  dispatching 
this  task  so  hastily  as  in  Petrolia. 

THE  PEOPLE. 

That  man  should  be  superior  to  his  accidents  is,  we  are 
told,  the  fundamental  principle  of  true  democracy.  On 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  53 

the  whole,  the  Petrolians  are  superior  to  their  surround 
ings  or  circumstances.  It  takes  time,  however,  to  study 
their  good  and  less  good  points  of  character.  The  stran 
ger  who  visits  that  country  in  quest  of  fortune  or  infor 
mation,  is  apt  to  form  erroneous  conclusions  respecting 
them,  the  first  few  days.  At  the  principal  gateways  lead 
ing  thither,  he  is  certain  to  encounter  a  class  different  from 
the  great  body  of  operators  in  the  valleys.  The  former 
consist  largely  of  hangers-on  about  hotels  and  boarding- 
houses,  who  are  in  quest  of  victims ;  of  roystering,  blas 
phemous  teamsters  and  boatmen ;  of  disappointed  fortune- 
hunters,  preparing  to  return  home,  and  having  a  very  low 
estimate  of  life  and  manners  in  Oildom.  Everywhere  he 
finds  exorbitant  charges,  without  an  apparent  disposition 
to  oblige.  If  he  be  a  religious  man,  he  will  be  hourly 
shocked  by  profanity  ;  if  a  humane  man,  at  the  brutality 
with  which  the  lower  animals  are  treated ;  if  a  man  of 
generous  instincts,  at^the  intense  selfishness,  the  sordid  love 
of  gain,  so  widely  prevalent ;  if  a  man  of  taste  and  culture, 
at  the  outlandish  condition  of  the  houses  and  the  streets, 
with  the  indifference  of  the  people  toward  intellectual  pur 
suits,  beyond  the  immediately  practical.  If  he  proposes 
to  introduce  any  other  topic  of  conversation  beyond  the 
never-ending,  still-beginning  themes  of  oil  and  war,  oil  and 
politics,  he  will  presently  find  his  company  thinning  out. 
Ten  minutes'  loud  conversation  on  philosophy,  literature, 
science,  or  religion  would  give  him  full  command  of  a 
parlor,  or  even  a  bar-room.  For  the  inhabitants  of  those 
large  towns  removed  thither  to  make  money,  and  do  not 
mean  to  be  turned  aside  from  the  one  grand  object  of 
existence. 
It  would  be  wrong,  however*to  judge  the  entire  popu- 


54:  Appearance  of  the  Country r,  etc. 

lation  by  this  ingredient.  Nay,  (in  Titusville,)  I  met  one 
saloon-keeper  who  keeps  up  his  old  reading  habits.  Hav 
ing  pierced  the  crust  of  mere  adventurers,  speculators,  and 
peculators,  bespattered  men  and  dowdy  women,  let  the 
visitor  traverse  "  the  rural  districts,"  and  he  will  discover 
intelligence,  refinement,  even  generosity.  As  a  class,  the 
superintendents  of  the  large  companies  are  gentlemen  of 
culture,  who  would  adorn  any  society.  Not  a  few  of  them 
were  commissioned  officers  in  their  country's  service,  who 
have  gained  honorable  distinction  ;  some  were  conductors 
of  newspapers,  who  have  carried  with  them  to  that  solitude 
their  abundant  knowledge  of  men  and  measures  appertain 
ing  to  the  outside  world.  They  are  ready,  at  all  reason 
able  times,  to  impart  useful  information,  and  the  observa 
tions  gathered  by  this  body  of  officials  ought  to  be  regarded 
as  treasures  of  no  ordinary  value. 

And  in  point  of  kindness  of  heart  and  readiness  to 
oblige,  the  engineers,  drillers,  and  others  engaged  about 
the  works  will  compare  favorably  with  any  other  body  of 
men  I  have  ever  seen.  "Where  they  could  not  give  the 
trustworthy  information  sought,  they  were  ever  ready  to 
put  me  on  the  trail  after  it.  Of  hoggishness,  or  a  deliber 
ate  purpose  to  deceive,  not  one  in  fifty  could  be  justly 
charged.  Can  the  outside  world  produce  a  cleaner  record  ? 

Not  that  any  class  of  employes  are  perfect  in  every  re~ 
spect.  The  officers  are  supposed  to  comprehend  clearly 
more  than  one  mode  of  raising  gas  as  well  as  oil ;  and  in 
many  instances,  I  fear,  are  too  ready  to  wink  at  the  bad 
schemes  of  stock-jobbers  and  speculators,  if  not  to  lend 
them  active  support.  A  kind  of  lax  morality  prevails  that 
misrepresentation  is,  if  not  justifiable,  at  least  excusable, 
when  committed  in  the  interest  of  one's  employers.  Hence 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  55 

the  vast  exaggeration  in  the  yield  of  wells,  and  the  studied 
concealment  of  facts  that  would  injure  the  sale  of  stocks 
or  interests  at  fictitious  prices.  The  Spartan  law,  as  a  so 
cial  regulation,  is  still  too  generally  obeyed ;  for  most  of 
us  chuckle  when  we  hear  of  a  dishonest  operation,  provid 
ed  the  performer  has  been  smart  and  successful  in  his 
Stratagems  to  pick  other  persons'  pockets. 

No  community  on  the  face  of  the  earth  has  a  smaller 
proportion  of  drones  to  the  number  of  working  bees  than 
Petrolia,  This  observation  applies  to  city,  village,  and 
single  shanty.  Nobody  but  has  a  hand  engaged  in  some 
business  or  pursuit ;  many  in  half  a  dozen.  If  a  man  be 
takes  himself  to  mercantile  life,  he  reckons  upon  giving  it 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  hours  per  day,  filling  up  his  leisure 
moments  with  speculation  or  an  agency.  The  young  fel 
low  who  would  stand'at  the  street-corners  elsewhere,  there 
kills  two  birds  with  one  stone  by  offering  to  sell  wells,  or 
interests  in  wells,  or  leases,  or  refusals  to  those  whom  he 
can  button-hole.  If  Satan  found  mischief  only  for  the 
idle,  his  occupation  would  be  gone  in  the  oil  region.  Per 
haps  the  high  cost  of  living  has  impelled  the  slothful  as 
well  as  the  diligent  to  this  remarkable  activity,  but  it  seems 
to  be  an  admitted  principle  on  all  hands  that  people  have 
gone  thither  to  work.  On  this  account,  the  country  is  es 
sentially  orderly.  Property  as  well  as  life  is  more  secure 
than  in  anj*  Eastern  city.  Even  drunkenness  is  by  no 
means  as  common  as  might  be  expected,  in  view  of  the 
rough-and-tumble  modes  of  life  prevalent.  I  have  seen 
less  of  it  in  Oil  City  or  Titusville  than  in  country  towns 
of  the  same  size  elsewhere.  Yet  I  do  not  believe  that  one 
man  in  fifty  is  a  member  of  the  temperance  association. 
It  is  said  that  the  vice  of  drinking  prevails  to  a  consider- 


56  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

able  extent  on  Sundays  on  some  of  the  farms,  but  the 
wonder  is  that  it  should  not  have  become  universal. 

Last  fall,  intense  excitement  prevailed  near  Oil  City, 
caused  by  the  dead  body  of  a  resident  having  been  found 
close  by  it.  He  had  been  murdered  in  open  day.  An 
indignation  meeting  held  appointed  a  vigilance  committee, 
and  the  whole  population  joining  in  chase  of  the  crim 
inals,  they  hastily  decamped.  It  is  supposed  they  were 
part  of  a  gang  from  the  East,  who  expected  to  "  operate" 
in  Petrolia  as  some  of  them  had  done  in  California. 

During  the  first  three  or  four  years  of  the  oil  excitement, 
little  respect  was  shown  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and 
few  attempts  at  establishing  Christian  worship  were  made 
outside  the  focal  points.  The  flowing  wells  poured  out 
their  wealth  on  that  day  as  on  the  remaining  six, -and  the 
pumps  copied,  as  far  as  possible,  after  the  others'  example ; 
so  the  people  pumped,  and  barrelled;  and  drove,  and  ship 
ped  petroleum  on  Sunday  as  well  as  Saturday.  Man  lives 
not  by  oil  alone,  however,  any  more  than  by  bread.  A 
change  has  been  gradually  taking  place  in  this  respect, 
giving  man  and  beast  the  advantage  of  a  septennial  day  of 
rest.  Perhaps  this  improvement  was  brought  about  by 
the  men  refusing  to  work ;  perhaps  as  a  stroke  of  policy, 
to  retain  the  more  sober  and  steady  portion  of  the  mecha 
nics  and  laborers ;  perhaps  from  conscientious  motives  on 
the  part  of  the  large  companies.  Sunday  work  seldom 
takes  places  now,  except  in  wells  which  have  been  flood 
ed,  or  are  in  danger  of  becoming  unserviceable  for  a  time, 
in  consequence  of  the  water  getting  the  upper  hand. 

At  Eouseville,  Petroleum  Centre,  and  a  few  other  points, 
small  buildings  have  been  erected,  to  serve  for  chapels  on 
Sunday  and  school-houses  during  the  week.  I  am  inclin- 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  57 

ed  to  believe  these  are  better  sustained  by  commutations 
in  money  than  by  personal  devotion,  and  that  the  worship 
pers  are  more  disposed  to  purchase  tickets  to  the  Celestial 
City  for  their  friends  and  relatives  than  to  get  aboard  of  the 
cars  and  ride  themselves.  Like  some  other  matters  of 
importance,  this  is  left  till  the  fortune-hunters  return  to 
"the  States."  The  fact  is,  in  Petrolia,  the  church  uni 
versally  believed  in  is  an  engine-house,  with  a  derrick  for 
its  tower,  a  well  for  its  Bible,  and  a  two-inch  tube  for  its 
preacher,  with  mouth  rotund,  "bringing  forth  things 
new  and  old,"  in  the  shape  of  two  hundred  barrels  per 
day  of  crude  oil,  mingled  with  salt  water.  In  the  prin 
cipal  business-centres,  regular  societies  have  been  insti 
tuted  ;  but  that  practical  Christianity  which  leads  men 
not  only  to  love  and  fear  God,  but  love  mercy  and  hate 
covetousness,  is  not  in  a  flourishing  condition.  Indeed, 
I  fear  some  of  the  <:  under  shepherds"  are  more  intent 
on  oil  development  than  in  rebuking  the  vices  and  fol 
lies  of  the  community ;  otherwise,  it  seems  to  me,  profan 
ity  would  be  a  little  less  common  ;  some  sympathy  would 
be  shown  to  the  brute  creation  ;  selfishness  and  swin 
dling  would  at  least  feel  ashamed  of  themselves.  I  heard 
of  a  promising  young  divine  who  was  making  a  good 
impression  among  his  auditors,  one  of  whom  made  him 
a  present  of  a  one-sixteenth  interest  in  a  well  then  go 
ing  down.  Oil  was  struck,  and  the  gift  was  converted 
into  twenty  thousand  dollars;  whereupon  the  preacher 
retired  on  a  competency.  Let  us  hope  that  others  will  not 
thus  be  drawn  aside  by  a  glance  at  the  hill  Lucre. 

The  former  proprietors  in  that  part  of  Pennsylvania 
were  largely  descended  from  the  Protestant  part  of  the 
Irish  population  ;  and  to  this  day  retain  many  of  the  char- 


58  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

acteristics  of  their  ancestors.  As  a  rule,  they  are  slow, 
stead y,  cautious,  thrifty,  and  strong-willed.  Nearly  all  have, 
on  selling  out,  removed  to  Ohio  or  "Western  New-York, 
purchasing  farms,  and  investing  their  surplus  means  in 
public  securities.  Many  of  them  expect,  after  this  whirl 
wind  blows  over,  to  regain  possession  of  their  farms  at  a 
tithe  of  what  they  pocketed  from  Eastern  agents.  The 
new-comers  are  a  mixture  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 
California,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Minnesota,  and  Missouri  being 
represented  with  New-England,  New- York,  and  Pennsyl 
vania.  Even  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  Kentucky,  and 
Tennessee  have  representative  men  there. 

The  Petrolians  are  nothing  if  not  geological.  Nearly 
every  operator  is  ready  to  discourse  learnedly  on  rocks, 
formations,  strata,  (in  the  singular  number !)  shales,  sand 
stones,  (comprising  every  thing  from  limestone  to  conglom 
erate.)  As  in  nature,  so  in  human  nature — no  two  agree. 
A,  after  describing  "a  most  remarkable  phenomena,"  is 
positive  that  the  best  wells  are  to  be  found  on  the  east  side 
of  all  runs  and  "  criks."  B  asks  you  to  examine  "  that 
strata,"  and  concludes  that  prudent  men  should  bore  only 
on  the  slopes.  C,  an  old  gentleman,  fussy  and  seedy-look 
ing,  avers  that  the  country  is  of  volcanic  origin,  and  is 
ready  to  point  out  certain  rents  in  the  hill-tops,  through 
which  Yulcan  and  his  helpers  found  passages  for  the  smoke 
and  cinders  of  their  forges ;  whence  the  petroleum.  It 
would  be  uncharitable  to  surmise  that  either  of  these  sa- 
vans  had  a  personal  object  in  view,  in  the  sale  or  leasing 
of  land ;  yet  stranger  things  have  happened  in  Petrolia. 
But  of  all  original  characters,  the  most  amusing  is  the 
ancient  ploughman,  wood-chopper,  or  flat-boatman,  meta 
morphosed  into  a  millionaire  and  a  scholar.  "This  is 


Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc.  59 

Sugar  Crik,"  observed  one  of  these  newly  extemporized 
linguists,  "  and  that  is  a  contributory  to  Sugar  Crik  ;  and 
the  symptoms  of  ile  is  very  premonitory !"  Others  are 
in  the  habit  of  pointing  out  the  great  benefits  certain  to 
flow  from  the  further  "  envelopment"  of  the  country.  It 
is  clear  that  Dame  Partington  has  given  some  valuable 
lessons  in  Western  Pennsylvania  ;  indeed,  who  knows  but 
that  her  ladyship  has  "  oil  on  the  brain  "  ? 

Jiealth  is  the  rule,  and  sickness  the  exception,  there,  in 
spite  of  the  many  drawbacks.  Few  persons  exhibit  the 
lean  forms  and  sallow  complexions  so  common  in  other 
parts  of  the  country.  On  the  contrary,  as  the  men  have 
a  look  of  boldness  and  vigorous  purpose,  so  they  present 
the  appearance  of  physical  robustness  in  an  unusual  de 
gree.  This  may  be  traceable,  in  part,  to  the  circumstance 
that  the  hardships  and  privations  felt  there  drive  away  the 
more  feeble  in  mind,  body,  or  purpose,  who  are  thus 
strained  out  of  the  community.  But  there  is  more  than 
this.  The  rough,  wholesome,  open-air  exercise  connected 
with  this  new  life,  the  fresh  mountain  air,  the  fresh  water 
pouring  forth  from  a  thousand  springs,  have  built  up  the 
physique  of  hundreds  of  young  men  who  previously  lan 
guished  behind  desks  and  counters  in  the  cities ;  have 
given  them  buoyancy  of  spirit  as  well  as  strength  of  limb, 
such  as  they  never  before  enjoyed.  The  diseases  to  which 
strangers  are  said  to  be  liable  are  principally  connected 
with  the  digestive  system,  as  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  etc. ; 
but  it  is  questionable  whether  these  are  traceable  to  the 
water  so  much  as  to  exposure  and  over-exertion,  especially 
working  up  to  the  knees  in  water,  and  remaining  in  damp 
clothes. 

Of  preparations  for  farming  or  gardening  operations, 


60  Appearance  of  the  Country,  etc. 

this  spring,  there  are  none.  Speculation  has  become  so 
rife  that  it  extends  to  the  uplands,  which  are  accounted 
"too  valuable"  (such  is  the  slang)  for  agricultural  pur 
poses.  The  little  supply  of  milk  that  reaches  the  valleys, 
and  nearly  all  the  vegetables,  equally  with  the  supplies  of 
meat  and  grain,  come  from  great  distances.  The  author 
believes  that  the  best  paying  wells  this  year  may  be  struck 
within  eighteen  inches  of  the  surface,  by  drilling  with  a 
plough,  reaming  with  a  hoe,  tubing  with  garden-seeds, 
and  pumping  with  manure. 

"  Old  sacra  fames  /"  The  insane  desire  of  oil  is  demor 
alizing.  It  leads  to  every  imaginable  kind  of  misrepre 
sentation  and  cheating.  In  every  transaction  involving 
profit  and  loss,  falsehood  is  expected,  is  looked  upon  as  the 
rule,  truth  as  the  exception.  This  indifference  to  veracity 
and  honor  does  not  merely  extend  to  matters  connected 
with  the  oil-wells,  but  to  those  of  every- day  life — to  en 
gagements  entered  into  by  landlord  and  tenant,  by  me 
chanics,  laborers,  etc.,  whenever  a  slight  advantage  may 
arise  by  violating  them.  This  "  covenant-breaking," 
where  no  other  obligation  than  a  man's  word  exists,  forms 
a  topic  of  general  complaint  in  Petrolia ;  and  at  this  mo 
ment,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  one  expects  his 
neighbor  to  certainly  fulfil  the  conditions  of  a  merely 
verbal  contract 


CHAPTEE    III. 

LOCATING  AND  SINKING  THE  WELLS. 

IN  the  earlier  days  of  well-sinking,  the  inexperienced 
operator  planted  his  derrick  and  drilled  his  well  wherever 
he  detected  "  surface  indications  "  of  petroleum,  probably 
little  thinking  that  it  might  show  itself  on  the  ground  at 
a  point  far  from  vertical  to  its  proper  source  in  the  sand- 
rocks.  In  general,  the  margins  of  rivers  and  creeks  were 
preferred  to  spots  more  distant,  even  though  equally  low ; 
hence  the  first  crop  of  derricks  grew  up  close  to  Oil 
Creek  and  the  Alleghany.  Even  at  this  late  day  there  is 
little  to  guide  the  adventurous  operator  beyond  the  con 
ceded  existence  of  oil-veins  in  the  inferior  rocks,  which 
circumstance,  however,  could  only  become  known  by  mak 
ing  numerous  experiments.  A  new  profession  of  men, 
claiming  to  be  gifted  with  extraordinary  powers,  has 
arisen  in  Petrolia,  namely,  "  oil-smellers  "or  "  diviners." 
Let  not  the  pious  reader  start  with  alarm,  lest  the  practice 
of  divination,  (whatever  it  may  have  been,)  condemned  so 
repeatedly  in  the  Mosaic  code,  has  been  revived  in  "West 
ern  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  No  devil,  demon,  ghost, 
ghoul,  fairy,  goblin,  or  table-tapping  spirit  is  known  or 
believed  to  be  at  work,  albeit  the  use  of  a  twig  of  witch- 
hazel  or  peach  might  readily  enough  suggest  to  some  the 
calling  up  of  spirits  from  their  vasty  deep  by  modern  en- 


62  Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells. 

chanters.  The  mode  of  operating  is  substantially  as  fol 
lows  :  The  diviner  cuts  from  one  of  the  trees  mentioned,  a 
bifurcated  bough  or  twig,  reducing  the  stem  and  the  forks 
to  about  a  foot  in  length,  for  convenience'  sake.  In  each 
hand  he  grasps  firmly  one  end  of  the  fork,  letting  the  stem 
point  upward  and  a  little  inward.  The  hands  should  be 
held  with  their  backs  downward.  With  this  simple  ap 
paratus  off  goes  the  "  smeller;"  and,  on  arriving  above  an 
oil- vein,  it  is  claimed  that  the  twig  will  turn  round  in  his 
hands,  in  spite  of  his  utmost  exertions,  until  the  stem 
points  directly  downward.  It  may  be  grasped  so  tightly 
that  the  rind  will  peel  off  by  the  operation ;  yet  this  will 
not  prevent  the  revolution  in  his  hands.  The  author  once 
witnessed  this  operation  going  on  in  the  hands  of  a  gen 
tleman  of  much  intelligence  and  the  utmost  veracity,  who 
was  not  a  believer  in  the  oil-smeller's  claims  or  preten 
sions,  yet  had  to  acknowledge  the  existence  of  the  phe 
nomenon  for  which  he  could  not  account.  It  appears  that 
the  twig  has  not  this  remarkable  power  in  the  hands  of  all 
persons ;  for  the  author  was  unable  to  perceive  any  change 
or  tendency  in  the  wand  in  his  own  hand,  on  arriving  at 
the  same  spot.  "Whether  the  difference  were  owing  to 
magnetic  influence  or  other  cause,  is  unknown ;  as  also 
whether  the  motion  betokens  the  presence  of  water,  petro 
leum,  both,  or  neither.  In  England,  it  is  said,  the  witch- 
hazel  has  long  been  used  in  this  manner  for  the  discovery 
of  coal;  in  some  parts  of  the  Eastern  States  people  try  it 
to  alight  upon  water-veins.  In  the  oil-regions,  some  of 
the  most  productive  wells  have  been  located  by  oil-smell 
ers  ;  in  more  cases,  however,  their  vaticinations  of  first- 
class  works  turn  out  mere  moonshine.  However,  the  di 
viners  have  become  a  power  in  Petrolia,  among  a  people 


Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells.  63 

as  keenly  inquisitive  and  practical  as  are  to  be  found,  who 
reason  in  this  way  :  "  If  there  be  any  thing  in  oil-smelling, 
we  may  as  well  avail  ourselves  of  it  as  not ;  for  the  diviner 
charges  only  from  twenty -five  to  one  hundred  dollars  for  his 
services  in  examining  a  tract ;  and  this  is  an  inconsiderable 
item  in  the  general  expense,  seeing  we  mean  to  bore  any 
how."  There  is  a  pretty  general  impression  that  he  is  a 
better  guide  negatively  than  positively ;  that  while  oil 
may  not  be  struck  just  where  he  directs,  it  is  useless  to 
sink  where  he  has  pronounced  none  to  exist.  In  a  word, 
the  charmer,  magnetizer,  or  natural  magician  has  more 
real  power  among  the  operators  than  the  latter  are  willing 
to  openly  concede. 

The  principal  matters  now  attended  to  in  locating  a 
well  are  the  following :  The  ground  ought  to  be  low,  to 
make  as  little  drilling  as  possible  suffice ;  yet  not  so  low 
as  to  be  subject  to  floods.  The  lesson  taught  by  the  late 
freshet  has  been  a  most  costly  one  in  this  respect.  There 
should  be  sufficient  space  nearly  level,  for  the  derrick,  en 
gine-house,  tank,  etc.  ;  this  secured,  they  may  be  placed  on 
the  top  of  a  knoll  or  the  face  of  a  bluff.  There  should  be 
no  hard  boulders  on  or  immediately  below  the  spot  where 
it  is  proposed  to  drill,  as  the  driving-pipe  must  descend 
perpendicularly.  It  is  of  some  consequence  to  have  facil 
ities  to  reach  navigation  for  shipping  the  product  and  re 
ceiving  a  supply  of  fuel.  But  the  one  prime  considera 
tion  on  the  part  of  experienced  men  is,  to  plant  the  der 
rick  on  a  spot  directly  on  a  line  between  two  paying  wells, 
where  there  is  doubtless  the  best  chance  of  striking  a  good 
vein.  Indeed,  without  breaking  ground,  the  managers, 
whose  well-springs  are  thus  threatened,  may  take  the 
alarm,  and  offer  to  buy  out  the  new-comer  at  his  own 


64:  Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells. 

price.  For  this  is  one  of  the  methods  by  which  operators 
sometimes  make  their  fortune. 

A  spot  having  been  selected,  the  next  business  is  to  get  an 
engine,  erect  the  engine-house,  the  derrick,  and  other  out 
works.  The  house  is  a  simple  structure  of  rough  boards, 
with  perhaps  a  bunk  for  the  engineer's  sleeping  apartment. 
The  derrick  stands  at  the  distance  of  thirty  or  forty  feet, 
the  walking-beam,  which  plays  upon  a  heavy  upright  pil 
lar,  called  "the  samson-post,"  stretching  between  them. 
The  walking-beam  is  a  heavy  timber,  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  feet  long.  The  derrick  is  a  sort  of  pyramidal 
structure,  resting  on  a  square  base,  each  of  its  sides  being 
from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  long,  and  rising  to  a  height  of  forty 
or  fifty  feet,  the  summit  approaching  a  point.  The  four 
principal  pillars  are  strongly  laced  together  by  cross-tim 
bers,  into  one  of  which  rungs  are  driven,  to  make  it  serve 
as  a  ladder.  Occasionally  the  whole  structure  is  covered 
with  boards,  making  it  look  like  a  tower ;  but  more  fre 
quently  they  are  content  with  protecting  the  driller  from 
the  elements.  Under  the  apex  rests  a  pulley -block, 
through  which  passes  the  long  and  powerful  cable  used 
in  the  work.  The  object  in  making  the  derrick  so  tall  is 
to  enable  the  workmen  to  use  a  longer  and  heavier  drill 
ing  apparatus  than  formerly  ;  its  various  parts,  when  put 
together,  forming  a  continuous  iron  bar  of  thirty  feet  in 
length.  It  also  enables  them  to  withdraw  or  put  down 
the  tubes  more  readily.  The  weight  of  the  tools  now 
used  in  drilling  commonly  exceeds  one  thousand  pounds, 
striking  a  powerful  blow  at  each  revolution  of  the  crank. 

The  next  step  is  to  put  down  the  surface-pipe  or  driv 
ing-pipe  to  a  sufficient  depth,  so  as  to  prevent  earth  or 
stones  from  falling  into  the  pit,  either  while  drilling  goes 


Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells.  65 

on  or  afterward.  This  is  a  work  both  of  difficulty  and 
delicacy,  since  the  pipe  must  be  forced  down  through  all 
obstructions  to  a  great  depth ;  while  it  must  be  perfectly 
vertical.  Sometimes  a  hard  boulder  is  encountered  below 
the  surface,  which  bends  the  tube  to  one  side,  in  which 
event  the  work  has  to  be  abandoned.  The  depth  to  which 
operators  usually  force  this  down  varies,  many  striving  to 
drive  it  some  distance  into  the  first  sand-rock,  while  others 
content  themselves  with  reaching  twenty,  thirty,  or  forty 
feet.  The  pipe,  made  of  cast-iron,  has  commonly  a  five- 
inch  aperture  and  is  one  inch  thick,  being  cast  in  lengths 
of  nine  feet.  The  apparatus  for  forcing  it  into  the  ground 
is  a  pile-driving  machine,  very  simple  in  its  construction 
and  mode  of  operation.  A  wooden  wheel  and  axle, 
termed  the  "bull-wheel,"  is  geared  to  the  engine  by  means 
of  a  stout  rope,  which,  in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  work 
men,  can  be  made  tight  to  the  axle  or  let  slip  at  any  mo 
ment,  the  rope  being  wound  four  or  five  times  around  it. 
When  the  engine  and  crank  move,  up  rises  the  ram, 
a  block  of  four  hundred  or  five  hundred  pounds,  to  a 
height  of  perhaps  six  feet,  between  strong  wooden  shears 
to  keep  it  in  its  place  ;  the  rope  is  then  let  slip,  and  the 
ram  descends  with  a  stunning  blow  on  a  plate  or  cap 
placed  on  the  top  of  the  pipe.  At  every  blow  a  percepti 
ble  movement  of  the  tube  downward  takes  place ;  and  it 
has  sometimes  happened  that  the  driving-pipe  could  be  put 
down  its  required  length  in  little  more  than  a  day ;  in  very 
hard  ground,  however,  the  operation  may  consume  a  whole 
week.  The  object  of  the  bull-wheel,  to  the  outside  of 
which  hold-fasts  are  nailed  at  short  distances  apart,  is  to 
operate  as  a  brake,  in  the  first  place,  so  that  a  downward 
motion  can  be  checked"  at  any  point  in  operating  the  well, 


66  Locatmg  and  Sinking  the  Wells. 

arid  also  to  enable  the  workmen  to  raise  or  lower  the 
tools,  tubing,  etc.,  in  case  the  engine  should  not  be  run 
ning.  By  the  aid  of  the  pulley  above,  and  the  leverage 
of  the  wheel  below,  one  man  will,  using  hands  and  feet, 
bring  half  a  ton  up  from  the  nether  regions. 

Sometimes,  indeed,  the  pile-driver  proves  unable  to 
force  the  driving-pipe  to  its  desired  depth,  owing  to  a  bed 
of  sand-rocks  intervening.  In  this  case,  it  is  customary  to 
set  the  drill  at  work,  making  a  three-inch  opening  through 
the  obstruction.  This  creates  a  vacuum,  into  which  the 
fragments  broken  off  by  the  pipe  in  its  descent  can  fall, 
when  the  ordinary  appliances  above  are  apt  to  force  it 
downward.  Otherwise  the  men  will  be  compelled  to  pull 
up  stakes  and  try  elsewhere.  Colonel  Drake  was  the  man 
who  introduced  this  implement  into  the  oil  regions,  as 
also  sundry  other  valuable  improvements. 

Now  begins  the  task  of  drilling — a  task  requiring  from 
four  weeks  to  as  many  months.  A  strong  cable  is  coiled 
round  the  bull-wheel  axle,  and  passed  through  the  pulley- 
block  at  the  top  of  the  derrick,  its  other  end  having  at 
tached  to  it,  by  strong  clamps,  an  instrument  called  "the 
temper-screw."  This  is  ordinarily  about  three  feet  long,  a 
thread  being  cut  into  it  for  half  its  length.  As  the  chisel 
used  in  boring  is  indirectly  connected  with  the  screw,  it 
will  be  seen  that  by  turning  the  latter  011  its  stem  the 
former  can  be  elevated  or  depressed  at  pleasure,  until  the 
end  of  the  thread  has  been  reached,  when  it  becomes  ne 
cessary  to  open  the  clamps  and  attach  the  instrument  to  a 
different  point  on  the  cable.  This  turning  of  the  screw 
has  to  be  done  by  hand,  instead  of  being  regulated  by  the 
engine,  on  account  of  differences  in  the  hardness  of  rocks, 


Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells.  67 

some  allowing  a  full  revolution  at  every  few  blows,  others 
only  once  in  five  minutes. 

To  the  lower  end  of  the  cable  are  attached  successively 
"the  sinker."  "  the  jars,"  "the  auger-stem,"  and  "the 
centre-bit,"  "drill,"  or  "chisel,"  the  whole  being  of  iron 
or  steel,  and  nearly  thirty  feet  in  length.  The  auger-stem 
is  about  fifteen  feet  long  ;  the  sinker,  eight  feet ;  the  jars, 
three  feet,  and  the  drill,  two  and  a  half  feet.  The  jars 
consist  of  two  slender  iron  bars,  so  framed  as  to  slide  into 
each  other  fifteen  or  eighteen  inches.  The  object  of  this 
instrument  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  its  name.  It  hap 
pens  frequently  that  the  chisel  gets  fast  in  a  crevice  or 
mud- vein,  while  the  cable,  several  hundred  feet  in  length, 
stretches  so  far  that  it  is  impossible  to  communicate  to  the 
drill  that  jerking  motion  which  might  extricate  it.  But 
the  sides  of  the  jars  having,  by  the  weight  of  the  sinker 
above,  been  pressed  into  each  other,  like  those  of  a  tele 
scope,  the  raising  of  the  cable  imparts  a  jerk  to  the  tools 
below,  ordinarily  sufficient  to  remove  them.  Not  always, 
however ;  for  I  think  it  within  the  truth  to  estimate  one 
well  in  every  ten  sunk  as  being  idle  this  moment  from 
the  tools  having  got  fast  below.  In  some  localities,  one 
may  hear  of  every  sixth  well  having  been  abandoned  on 
this  account. 

The  drill  or  chisel  is  about  thirty  inches  long,  and  two 
and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  with  a  three-inch  face.  It 
is  attached  by  a  screw  to  the  auger-stem,  which  is  about 
equally  thick,  its  principal  object  being  to  give  weight  to 
the  blow  ;  while  that  of  the  sinker,  as  already  stated,  is 
to  cause  the  jars  to  slide  into  each  other.  The  cable  is  a 
stout  inch-and-a-half  rope,  and  must  be  sufficiently  long 
to  pass  over  the  pulley  and  reach  down  to  the  bottom. 


68  Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells. 

The  engine — usually  a  portable  one,  giving  from  eight 
to  fifteen  horse-power — having  been  fired  up,  makes  its 
first  revolution,  communicating,  by  a  crank,  motion  to  the 
walking-beam,  which,  in  turn,  moves  the  cable  and  the 
drilling  apparatus.  The  driller  takes  his  seat  above  the 
devoted  spot,  adjusts  the  chisel  to  it,  and  down  it  descends, 
striking  thirty  or  forty  blows  to  the  minute.  Between 
the  strokes  it  requires  to  be  kept  moving  round,  to  make 
the  opening  uniform  and  prevent  accidents  to  the  tools. 
With  this  there  is  also  combined  a  slight  downward  mo 
tion,  every  few  strokes,  by  a  turn  of  the  temper-screw. 
One  blow  tells  the  whole  story.  Hour  after  hour,  day 
and  night,  the  drill  keeps  churning  up  and  down,  punch 
ing  the  rock,  and  accomplishing  from  one  to  six  inches 
per  hour,  according  to  hardness.  At  intervals,  the  appa 
ratus  is  raised,  and  the  centre-bit  taken  off,  to  be  replaced 
by  the  u  reamer."  This  is  a  round  bar  of  iron,  faced  with 
steel,  the  centre  and  sides  of  its  face  being  more  or  less 
hollowed,  while  its  length  (usually  four  and  a  half  to  five 
inches)  corresponds  with  the  proposed  diameter  of  the 
well.  The  object  of  this  instrument  is  to  smooth  the 
sides  and  widen  the  orifice  to  its  proper  size.  In  working, 
it  requires  to  be  kept  turning  and  sinking  as  does  the 
chisel. 

The  reamer  is  followed  by  the  "  sand-pump,"  an  iron  or 
copper  tube  about  five  feet  long,  with  a  valve  opening  up 
ward  in  its  nether  extremity.  On  lowering  this  pump 
into  the  pit,  the  valve  opens,  and  the  pulverized  rock,  re 
duced  to  a  pulpy  mass,  is  drawn  into  the  tube,  hauled  up 
to  the  surface,  and  discharged. 

The  sand-pump  occasionally  brings  up,  from  the  first 
sand-rock  below  the  surface,  small  quantities  of  oil ;  but 


Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells.  69 

his  is  apt  to  receive  no  attention,  operators  knowing  that 
it  will  soon  exhaust  itself.  More  frequently  a  good  vein 
may  be  struck  in  the  second  rock  ;  but  on  the  lower  part 
of  Oil  Creek  and  on  its  tributaries,  this  is  usually  allowed 
to  pass  unheeded.  On  the  Alleghany  and  on  French 
and  Sugar  Creeks,  they  seldom  drill  further  than  through 
this  stratum.  Elsewhere,  on  entering  and  passing  through 
the  third  layer,  "  a  good  show "  is  most  eagerly  looked 
for,  as  the  sand-pump  comes  up,  filled  with  the  gray, 
sloppy  mass  from  beneath.  If  this  begins  to  turn  darker 
in  color,  separating  into  a  thick,  heavy  sediment,  which 
settles  on  the  ground,  and  a  green,  slimy  liquid,  which 
floats  away  toward  the  nearest  hollow,  great  indeed  is  the 
rejoicing ;  for  the  prospect  of  one  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars  is  within  view.  Indeed,  the  vein  struck  may,  in  an 
instant,  anticipate  reamer,  sand-pump,  tubing,  and  every 
thing  else,  sending  up  a  spirt  of  petroleum  which  shall 
smite  the  top  of  the  derrick  and  drive  away  the  work 
men,  its  rage  only  cooling  sufficiently  to  permit  them,  af 
ter  the  lapse  of  a  day  or  two,  to  return,  insert  the  tubes, 
and  guide  the  generous  overflow  into  the  cistern. 

Examples  of  such  inordinate  zeal  and  energy  are,  how 
ever,  very  infrequent— certainly  not  more  than  one  in  a 
hundred,  especially  in  localities  which  have  been  already 
well  bored  and  pumped.  The  last  instance  that  occurs  to 
my  memory  was  near  Petroleum  Centre,  the  freakish  well 
being  situated  high  up  a  ravine,  far  from  its  fellows.  It  is 
supposed  to  have  discharged  two  thousand  barrels  before 
being  brought  properly  under  control.  Much  oftener  the 
"show"  is  followed  by  an  uprising  of  saltwater,  with 
perhaps  only  a  few  globules  of  oil  to  the  barrelful.  This 
water  must  be  exhausted  before  a  better  quality  of  liquor 


70  Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells. 

makes  its  appearance ;  and  in  some  cases  days  and  even 
weeks  have  been  spent  in  the  process. 

Setting  aside  such  extreme  cases,  however,  we  will  sup 
pose  that  oil  is  actually  got  in  paying  quantities.  The 
next  process  is  to  tube  the  well ;  though  many  prefer  first 
to  sink  it  some  feet  deeper,  in  order  to  furnish  a  recepta 
cle  for  sand  or  gravel  that  may  be  washed  in  by  the  new 
ly  opened  veins.  To  put  in  the  tubing  successfully,  it  is 
not  only  necessary  for  the  superintendent  to  have  some 
general  knowledge  of  the  mode  of  operating,  but  the 
characteristics  of  that  particular  locality.  A  mistake  in 
this  respect  is  apt  to  be  attended  with  serious  losses  of 
time  and  money,  some  wells  having  had  to  be  re-tubed  as 
often  as  forty  or  fifty  times  within  six  months.  The  most 
experienced  managers  express  the  belief  that  large  num 
bers  of  wells  are  totally  unproductive  from  defective  tub 
ing.  The  tubes,  of  iron,  are  usually  two  inches  in  diam 
eter,  by  about  fifteen  feet  long,  the  ends  screwing  into 
each  other.  These  are  raised  somewhat,  in  order  to  give 
greater  strength  and  furnish  a  hold  for  "  the  tongs."  To 
the  lower  end  of  the  first  joint  is  attached  "the  chamber," 
a  copper  vessel  containing  the  pump-valves.  This  being 
got  ready,  the  tube  is  hoisted  upward  by  the  tackle,  and 
let  down  into  the  orifice.  An  instrument  called  "  the 
pipe-tongs  "  lays  hold  of  the  tube  at  the  joint,  and  pre 
vents  it  from  falling  in  till  the  second  section  is  screwed  in, 
when  it  is  lowered  further.  This  process  continues  to  go 
on,  section  by  section,  till  the  work  is  completed.  Oper 
ators  differ  as  to  the  depth  to  which  the  chamber  should 
be  lowered ;  one  of  the  most  successful  in  the  oil  region 
says  it  ought  to  go  within  twenty -five  or  thirty  feet  of  the 
bottom.  Three  or  four  men  can  put  down  five  hundred 


Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells.  71 

feet  of  this  in  a  common  working-day.  The  weight  of 
such  a  continuous  pipe  is  between  eighteen  hundred  and 
two  thousand  pounds,  all  depending  from  the  tongs, 
which  rests  on  cross-pieces  of  timber  at  the  opening  of 
the  well. 

By  accident  or  design  it  has  sometimes  happened  that 
the  clasp  of  this  instrument  has  been  opened,  letting  the 
tube  drop  to  the  bottom,  and  occasioning  much  loss  as 
well  as  trouble  to  recover  it.  For  this  purpose  two  in 
struments  may  be  made  use  of.  One  is  a  short  iron  bar, 
made  sufficiently  sharp  at  the  lower  extremity  to  enter  the 
tube  and  slide  some  distance  into  it,  attaching  itself  to 
the  inside  surface  by  means  of  "  steel  dogs."  The  other 
is  somewhat  trumpet-mouthed,  so  as  to  slide  over  the  end 
of  the  tube,  and  catch  hold  of  its  outer  surface  in  the 
same  manner.  But  in  neither  case  is  success  certain  to 
follow ;  and  the  manager  may  have  the  mortification  of 
finding  all  his  efforts  followed  by  the  abandoning  of  the 
work. 

Before  the  well  usually  takes  to  flowing,  and  always 
before  it  can  be  pumped  to  advantage,  it  must  be  "  seed- 
bagged."  The  object  of  this  process  is  two-fold — first,  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  gas  upward,  except  through  the 
tube,  where  it  will  assist  in  forcing  up  the  oil ;  and  second, 
to  prevent  the  descent  of  water  or  gravel  from  above, 
which  would  have  to  be  pumped  up  again  at  almost  in 
finite  trouble  and  expense.  It  will  readily  be  seen  what 
a  heavy  pressure  is  thus  brought  upon  the  bag  which  sup 
ports  a  column  of  water  from  two  hundred  to  four  hun 
dred  feet  high,  as  also  upon  the  tube  itself.  To  effect  this, 
a  strong  leather  bag,  shaped  somewhat  like  a  boot-leg,  is 
filled  with  flax-seed  and  drawn  over  the  pipe,  along 


72  Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells. 

which  it  is  made  to  pass  down  to  the  required  depth,  hav 
ing  been  first  made  fast  to  a  joint — the  lower  end  of  the 
bag  very  securely;  the  upper  rather  loosely,  so  that,  in 
the  event  of  having  to  withdraw  the  tubes,  this  fastening 
may  break,  and  the  bag  turn  over  and  inside  out,  spilling 
the  contents  and  letting  down  the  column  of  water. 
When  the  flax-seed  gets  soaked  it  bursts,  swelling  to  such 
a  degree  as  completely  to  fill  up  the  vacant  space  between 
the  tube  and  the  outside  wall,  putting  an  effectual  stop 
to  all  movements  in  that  quarter.  But  it  sometimes  hap 
pens  that  the  seed-bag  bursts,  in  which  event  three  days 
are  apt  to  be  lost  in  replacing  it  and  pumping  out  the 
surface  water  which  accumulated  below.  Experts  usually 
place  the  seed-bag  between  the  second  and  the  third  sand- 
rocks,  if  oil  is  got  from  the  latter,  say  at  the  depth  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty  feet ;  but  in  the  event  of  its  coming 
from  the  second,  then  at  such  a  distance  from  the  surface 
as  will  shut  off  all  the  fresh  water  without  interrupting 
the  flow  of  an  oil-vein.  Mr.  Bliss,  an  experienced  and 
successful  operator,  puts  in  the  tubing  first,  without  the 
seed-bag,  and  pumps  out  all  the  sediment  at  the  bottom. 
He  then  puts  in  the  bag ;  and  although  this  involves  a  lit 
tle  loss  of  time  at  the  outset,  he  observes  that  he  has 
never  had  to  seed-bag  a  second  time,  as  others  often  do. 
Thus  equipped  for  duty,  if  the  well  does  not  evince  a  dis 
position  to  flow  profusely,  the  pumping  machinery  is  set 
at  work.  The  pump-rods  are  of  wood,  their  ends  fas 
tened  together.  This  simple  apparatus  is  connected  with 
one  end  of  the  walking-beam,  already  described ;  an  iron 
pipe  is  also  joined  to  the  upright  tube,  to  receive  the  pe 
troleum  and  convey  it  to  the  tank  at  any  required  dis 
tance  or  situation.  The  first  movements  require  to  be 


Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells.  73 

made  cautiously,  until  it  has  been  ascertained  that  every 
part  is  in  working  order,  when  more  steam  is  let  on.  Up 
comes  the  brine  or  the  oil,  but  more  commonly  both,  the 
former  in  much  larger  proportion  at  the  outset. 

The  tank  or  cistern  is  a  circular  vat,  made  of  wood,  and 
having  a  capacity  ranging  from  two  hundred  to  twelve 
hundred  barrels.  The  custom  formerly  was  to  make  this 
vessel  square,  securing  the  timbers  by  heavy  uprights ; 
but  its  greater  tendency  to  leak  has  made  that  give  place 
to  the  circular  form.  "When  wells  discharge  copiously,  it 
is  customary  to  erect  whole  streets  .or  blocks  of  these 
enormous  vessels,  covering  them  with  a  long  range  of 
roofing.  For  purposes  of  shipment,  it  is  desirable  to  get 
them  convenient  to  the  road  or  some  navigable  stream, 
which  is  sometimes  lined  with  the  black,  slimy  monsters 
for  long  distances.  The  tanks  are  connected  together  by 
a  system  of  pipes,  which  distribute  the  liquid  from  one 
to  another.  Near  the  bottom  of  each  is  inserted  a  stop 
cock  for  letting  the  salt-water  escape,  after  settling  there 
by  its  greater  specific  gravity.  In  spite  of  all  precautions, 
the  leakage  of  petroleum  through  the  wood,  or  its  waste 
in  filling  into  barrels,  is  considerable,  so  that  on  many 
farms  it  would  pay  well  for  collecting.  Some  managers 
have  caused  pipes  to  be  laid  down,  by  which  vessels  can 
be  laden  in  bulk — a  mode  of  preventing  loss  in  more  re 
spects  than  one.  In  the  flowing  wells,  little  or  no  water 
comes  up  with  the  petroleum  ;  in  the  pumping  wells,  the 
two  may  be  found  in  all  imaginable  proportions.  The 
brine  also  differs  in  strength,  being  in  some  cases  equal  to 
that  found  at  Syracuse,  New- York,  and  in  others  tasting 
slightly  brackish.  It  differs  also  in  some  localities,  ac 
cording  to  the  season,  being  weakest  in  spring,  when  the 
4 


T4  Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells. 

fresh  surface-water  lias  found  its  way  to  the  springs,  by 
careless  or  malicious  individuals  and  companies  letting 
their  works  get  out  of  order. 

The  cost  of  sinking  and  tubing  a  well  of  five  hundred 
feet,  which  is  the  ordinary  depth  of  those  lately  put  down 
on  Oil  Creek,  but  is  less  than  the  average  of  wells  on 
Cherry  Eun  or  Pithole,  is  between  seven  thousand  and 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  unless  the  proprietors 
own  the  steam-engine  or  other  part  of  the  apparatus  re 
quired.  In  this  case,  it  will  amount  to  between  four  thou 
sand  and  five  thousand  dollars,  a  good-sized  new  engine 
costing  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  on  the  ground.  At 
the  beginning,  wells  could  be  bored  for  fifteen  hundred  dol 
lars,  and  even  one  thousand  dollars,  including  the  outlays 
for  engine  and  machinery,  on  account  of  the  cheapness  of 
materials,  labor,  and  fuel,  as  also  the  smaller  depth  to 
which  it  was  customary  to  sink  the  wells.  If  the  work 
be  now  let  out  to  a  contractor,  it  will  cost  from  five  to 
seven  dollars  per  foot,  in  addition  to  outlays  for  derrick, 
engine,  and  other  fixtures.  If  workmen  be  engaged  by 
the  day,  first-class  machinists,  carpenters,  blacksmiths, 
etc.,  must  be  paid  five  dollars  per  day ;  drillers,  about  four 
dollars  ;  engineers,  about  three  and  a  half ;  and  common 
laborers,  from  two  to  three.  Two  sets  of  drillers  and 
engineers  usually  relieve  each  other,  the  machinery  run 
ning  the  full  twenty -four  hours.  Teamsters  command  from 
thirty-five  to  fifty  dollars  per  month,  with  board  and 
lodging ;  the  other  figures  suppose  the  employes  to  pro 
vide  these  for  themselves.  The  cost  of  horse-hire  is  very 
heavy — in  winter,  enormous — the  charge  for  a  double 
team  and  driver  being  at  least  ten  dollars  per  day.  The 
bituminous  coal  made  use  of,  though  it  might  be  obtained 


Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells.  75 

from  hills  not  ten  miles  off,  comes  from  Pittsburgh  and 
costs  from  sixty  cents  to  one  dollar  and  twenty  cents  per 
bushel,  according  to  the  season  and  the  distance  of  trans 
portation  by  wagon. 

To  obviate  the  last-named  outlay,  now  becoming  op 
pressive,  Mr.  Wade,  superintendent  of  the  Lady's  well, 
applied  the  escaping  gas  to  the  generation  of  heat  with 
the  most  triumphant  success.  Large  numbers  of  engines 
are  now  driven  by  this  carbonetted  hydrogen,  which  is, 
without  difficulty,  conveyed  from  the  tube  into  a  large 
barrel  or  cistern,  and  thence  into  the  furnace.  Nothing 
could  be  more  beautiful,  economical,  and  perfectly  safe 
than  this  arrangement.  The  few  splinters  of  wood  thrown 
upon  the  grate  in  the  morning  to  light  the  fire,  serve  also 
to  keep  it  agoing  all  day.  The  gas  is  used  to  give  light 
in  the  engine-house  at  night,  and  has,  in  at  least  one  in 
stance,  been  conveyed  to  a  private  dwelling,  where  it  is 
used  for  ordinary  culinary  and  heating  purposes.  Such 
economy  has  hitherto  been  a  rather  novel  feature  in  the 
management  of  affairs  in  Petrolia. 

On  the  other  hand,  a.  similar  experiment  made  at  the 
Auburn  well,  on  Cherry  Eun,  belonging  to  the  Cherry 
Valley  Oil  Company,  resulted  unsuccessfully,  diminishing 
the  daily  flow  of  sixty  barrels  to  less  than  one  half  of 
that  quantity.  The  attempt  was  consequently  abandoned, 
when  the  former  flow  returned.  The  company  have  since 
then  inserted  a  clause  in  all  their  leases,  prohibiting  those 
who  put  down  wells  on  their  premises  from  using  the  gas 
as  fuel. 

To  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  this  is  the  only  instance 
in  the  oil  region  of  Pennsylvania,  where  such  an  effect 
has  followed  the  introduction  of  gas  as  fuel,  whether 


76  Locating  and  Sinking  ike  Wells. 

taken  from  pumping  or  flowing  wells.  On  making  in 
quiry  on  this  subject,  from  the  manager  of  one  of  the  lat 
ter  class,  I  learned  that  they  had  made  repeated  experi 
ments,  and  in  no  instance  with  a  diminished  yield  of  oil. 
But  in  this  case  there  was  a  very  large  volume  of  gas  escap 
ing  ;  while  the  production  of  oil  was  far  below  that  of  the 
Auburn  well.  In  the  latter,  the  gas  appears  to  have  been 
barely  sufficient  to  expel  the  liquid,  having  so  little  sur 
plus  energy  to  spare  that^its  capture  and  imprisonment 
proved  too  much  for  exhausted  nature.  The  propriety, 
therefore,  of  using  gas  as  fuel  must,  it  would  seem,  de 
pend  upon  its  quality  and  strength  relatively  to  the  dis 
charge  of  oil,  and  perhaps  to  the  time  during  which  a 
well  has  been  in  operation.  In  some  instances,  a  single 
tube  supplies  gas  to  two,  three,  four,  even  six  engines, 
without  any  apparent  detriment  to  the  yield  of  oil. 

It  has  been  stated  that  along  two  small  streams  the  wells 
have  to  be  sunk  deeper  than  on  Oil  Creek.  The  differ 
ence  varies  from  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet,  and  is  due  sole 
ly  to  the  higher  elevation  of  those  bottoms  at  the  place  of 
carrying  on  operations.  To  react  the  same  rock  on  any 
of  the  tributaries  of  Oil  Creek,  it  will,  indeed,  be  neces 
sary  to  make  allowance  for  this  elevation,  adding  or  sub 
tracting  more  or  less  for  the  natural  inclination  of  the 
rocks.  Some  operators,  it  is  true,  report  that  in  the  wells 
planted  against  the  bluffs  or  on  the  table-lands,  it  is  not 
requisite  to  sink  as  many  feet  deeper  as  the  difference  in 
surface  elevation  would  betoken.  I  reply  that  this  state 
ment  is  partly  made  with  a  view  to  selling  lands  or  wells, 
and  partly  to  mistaking  the  second  rock  yield  for  that  of 
the  third,  the  former  being  unusually  copious  for  these 
times  on  account  of  the  comparatively  great  distance  from 


Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells.  77 

other  wells.  It  is  possible  that  on  the  uplands  the  bed 
which  corresponds  with  the  first  sandstone  of  the  valley 
will  in  places  yield  copiously  for  a  time. 

On  passing  down  the  Alleghany  Kiver,  and  entering 
the  valleys  of  French  and  Sugar  Creeks,  owing  to  the 
southern  dip  of  the  rocks,  a  depth  of  between  one  hundred 
and  two  hundred  feet  additional  must  be  sunk  before 
striking  the  third  layer.  So  far  the  custom  there  has 
been  to  stop  at  the  lower  margin  of  the  second  stratum, 
or  between  four  hundred  and  five  hundred  feet  down. 
The  petroleum  coming  from  that  bed  is  everywhere  bet 
ter  in  quality  than  that  obtained  lower  down ;  and  on 
French  and  Sugar  Creeks  is  of  the  rich,  heavy,  and  high- 
priced  kind  known  as  lubricating  oil.  In  its  crude  state, 
it  sells  for  many  times  the  price  of  the  illuminating  va 
riety  ;  but  is  never  got  in  such  large  quantities  as  the  lat 
ter.  The  Alleghany  oil  readily  commands  one  dollar  per 
barrel  more  than  that  obtained  from  the  third  sand-rock 
on  Oil  Creek  or  its  tributaries. 

During  the  past  twelve  months,  derricks  have  been 
erected  and  boring  has  commenced  in  the  various  rivu 
lets  discharging  into  the  principal  streams ;  but  in  some 
instances  also  operations  have  begun  on  the  open  table 
land,  at  elevations  of  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  feet. 
That  the  uplands  will  yield  abundantly  I  have  no  manner 
of  doubt,  the  veins  there  being  probably  quite  as  nume 
rous  and  productive  as  those  in  the  river-bottoms.  Whe 
ther  the  existing  appliances  will  suffice  for  wells  from  three 
hundred  to  four  hundred  feet  deeper  than  the  present  re 
mains  to  be  seen;  but  if  not,  American  ingenuity  will 
doubtless  remove  all  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  further 
development  of  the  upper  region. 


78  Locating  and  Sinking  the  Wells. 

Allusion  lias  been  made  to  the  loss  of  tools  by  striking 
crevices  in  the  rocks.  Some  experienced  men  regard  this 
as  a  happy  omen  of  the  early  discovery  of  petroleum ; 
since  it  is  usually  found  in  such  caverns  or  pockets,  which 
are  believed  to  have  originated  in  geological  dislocations. 
It  is  supposed  that  they  are  connected  by  subterranean 
channels,  so  that  when  one  is  penetrated  a  whole  system 
of  rich  springs  will  be  opened.  Experience  does  not  fully 
bear  out  such  expectations ;  and  hence  the  loss  of  tools 
is  apt  to  occasion  bitter  regrets  rather  than  congratula 
tions.  Above  Petroleum  Centre,  a  mud- vein  is  apt  to  be 
struck  in  the  middle  of  the  third  sand-rock ;  and  so  fre 
quently  have  the  tools  got  fast  in  it  that  it  has  become 
customary  to  stop  short  there,  instead  of  boring  through 
it.  The  depth  of  wells  there  will,  accordingly,  be  found 
on  an  average  fifty  feet  less  than  lower  down  the  creek, 
where  this  obstacle  does  not  present  itself. 

A  rough  estimate  of  the  whole  cost  of  sinking  a  well 
has  been  given  above.  Making  some  allowances  for  "  the 
chapter  of  accidents,"  it  will  be  seen  that  the  average  out 
lay  amounts  to  about  fifteen  dollars  per  foot,  distributed 
nearly  as  follows : 

Engine  and  boiler  of  fifteen  horse-power,  delivered, $2,500 

Engine-house,  derrick,   bull-wheel  and  cable,  samson-post,  walking- 
beam,  and  fixtures, 750 

One  tank,  five  hundred  barrels, 250 

Drilling-tools,  ram,  driving-pipe,  tubes,  etc., 1,000 

Labor,  fuel,  and  extras, 2,500 

Breaks,  delays,  and  other  accidents,  say,    500 

Total, $7,500 

These  figures  may  perhaps  be  reduced  one  half,  if  the 
operators  own  the  engine,  and  put  forth  their  own  hands 
freely  in  the  various  operations. 


CHAPTER    IY. 

"STRUCK  OIL" — THE  LAW  OF  LAWLESSNESS. 

AT  last,  the  labor,  the  anxiety,  the  profuse  expenditures 
of  long  months  have  been  crowned  with  triumph.  The 
sand-pump  has  brought  up  unmistakable  evidences  of  the 
existence  of  petroleum,  which  floats  upon  the  surface  of 
its  load  of  mud  in  long,  dark  streaks,  most  gratifying  to 
behold.  The  well  in  question  is  one  success,  after  two,  or 
it  may  be  ten,  failures,  and  gives  promise  of  paying  all 
expenses  connected  with  the  whole  number.  A  grand 
halo  of  wealth  and  beauty  thenceforth  rests  upon  every 
adjoining  field  and  patch  of  wood,  which,  has  become  in 
some  measure  sacred.  That  which  was  almost  valueless 
yesterday  is  viewed  as  a  princely  inheritance  to-day.  The 
omnipresent  telegraphic  wire  has  already  caught  up  the 
joyful  intelligence,  and  whispered  it  to  all  the  outskirts  of 
Petrolia,  as  also  to  interested  parties  in  "Wall,  Chestnut, 
and  State  streets.  Before  the  setting  of  that  day's  sun,  an 
excitement  will  have  sprung  up  in  all  parts  of  the  oil  re 
gion,  and  crowds  of  speculators,  operators,  and  curiosity- 
seekers  will  have  been  on  the  way  to  a  spot  which  exceeds 
all  the  dreams  of  poets  or  relations  of  prophets  about  Par- 
nassean  andCastalian  springs,  fountains  of  perpetual  youth, 
philosophers'  stones,  miraculous  blessings  of  widows' 
cruses,  etc.  One  well,  with  its  one  thousand  or  even  its 


80  "Struck  Oil"— lawlessness. 

one  hundred  barrels  per  day,  would  justly  have  been  re 
garded  as  a  world's  wonder ;  this,  being  a  matter-of-course 
affair  in  Petrolia,  receives  the  attentions  of  few  except 
those  who  propose  to  make  money  out  of  it.  What  is 
"  common"  not  only  ceases  to  be  wonderful,  but  becomes 
in  a  measure  "  unclean."  If,  however,  in  the  realms  of 
poetry  and  miracle  there  be  little  or  no  interest,  in  that  of 
solid  fact  there  is  abundance  to  make  up  for  the  deficiency. 
As  the  greasy  liquid  finds  its  way  into  the  tank,  the 
achievement  occasions  a  triumph  to  the  workmen,  brings 
fortune  to  its  owners,  attracts  fresh  millions  to  the  country, 
and  furnishes  pabulum  for  excitement  to  all.  The  modern 
miracle  is  thus  a  sand-pump,  which  may  bring  up  a  mil 
lion  of  dollars  at  a  single  ascent. 

But  here,  at  the  outset,  comes  in  "  the  law  of  lawless 
ness."  For  precisely  as  every  human  being  has  his  own 
set  of  features,  tone  of  voice,  and  the  like,  so  each  indi 
vidual  oil-spring  has  its  characteristics,  with  regard  to  the 
escape  of  water,  gas,  petroleum,  or  all  three.  In  one,  the 
flow  of  the  last-named  will  be  continuous  and  uniform, 
day  and  night,  not  varying  more  from  week  to  week  than 
a  spring-brook.  It  may  or  may  not  be  accompanied  by  a 
large  escape  of  gas,  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  though  it 
ordinarily  is  by  some.  In  such  a  flowing  concern,  there 
is  no  noise,  except  the  splash  of  the  liquid  falling  into  the 
tank.  But  in  others,  a  regular  periodicity  takes  place  in 
the  discharge.  The  Coquette  well,  for  example,  emits  a 
succession  of  sounds  as  loud  and  sharp  as  the  exhausts  of 
a  small  steam-engine,  and  occurring  in  tolerable  order 
every  ten  seconds,  in  such  a  manner  as  1,  2,  3,  4 ;  1,  2 ; 
1,  2,  3 ;  1,  2,  3,  4 ;  sometimes  two  of  these  coming  off 
together  by  an  extraordinary  effort.  A  copious  discharge 


"Struck  Oil" — Lawlessness.  81 

of  gas  comes  off  with  each  of  these  eructations,  ascending 
from  the  tube  like  a  thin  smoke,  to  mingle  with  the  at 
mosphere.  The  Wild-Cat  well,  at  Petroleum  Centre,  and 
the  Yankee,  on  Cherry  Eun,  remain  silent  for  forty  and 
twenty  minutes  respectively ;  then  begin  to  foam  and  spirt, 
the  oil  coming  off  at  first  only  in  drops,  but  increasing  by 
degrees  until  the  tube  belches  forth  quite  freely ;  these 
discharges  afterward  decrease  in  violence,  and  finally  stop 
altogether,  after  the  lapse  of  from  five  to  eight  minutes. 
Each  escape  of  liquid  is  accompanied  by  a  sharp  report, 
which  may  be  heard  one  hundred  yards  off  or  more.  Both 
wells  have  been  some  months  in  operation,  and  belong  to 
the  second  class,  their  yield  being  under  one  hundred  bar- 
rals  per  day.  Those  which  have  a  continuous  flow  are 
apt  to  produce  more  abundantly,  as  do  the  Eeed  and  the 
Mountain  wells,  on  Cherry  Kun,  and  the  Craft  well,  on 
Bull  Eun.  Yet  this  rule  is  not  universal ;  for  the  Coquette, 
discharging  spasmodically,  is  the  most  productive  in  that 
whole  region ;  while  a  well  on  Cornplanter  Eun  rather 
drips  than  flows  one  or  two  barrels  per  week. 

Others  again  are  found  to  remain  quiescent  for  twenty- 
one  or  twenty-two  hours  in  the  day ;  then  to  break  forth 
in  one  continuous  flow,  or  a  succession  of  belchings,  for 
the  other  two  or  three  hours.  A  few  run  for  six  hours, 
and  then  subside,  or  distribute  their  favors  over  twelve 
hours  in  the  twenty -four.  The  Dunn  well,  on  Watson 
flats,  produces  freely  from  morning  till  midday  ;  then  the 
supply  diminishes  or  stops  altogether,  for  the  rest  of  the 
day,  the  pump  bringing  little  but  salt  water.  But  in  the 
case  of  the  pumping- wells,  the  rule  is  pretty  common  to 
spirt  forth  from  a  few  drops  to  several  quarts  at  each  re- 


82  "Struck  Oil" — Lawlessness. 

volution  of  the  engine,  varying  according  to  the  season, 
but  not  modified  by  day  and  night. 

No  person  has  yet  arisen  who  can  explain  the  full  ra 
tionale  of  these  vagaries  on  the  part  of  Nature.  No  one 
cause  can  be  assigned  which  will  account  for  all  the  phe 
nomena.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  efforts  of  the 
imprisoned  gas  to  escape  into  the  upper  atmosphere  have 
much  to  do  with  forcing  up  the  oil ;  yet  in  numerous 
works  of  the  largest  flow  the  escape  of  gas  is  comparative 
ly  small,  and  altogether  insufficient  to  carry  such  a  column 
of  liquid  up  the  tube.  For  it  is  needless  to  observe  that 
a  discharge  of  three  thousand  barrels  per  day  would  al 
most  completely  fill  a  two-inch  tube,  making  in  it  a  nearly 
unbroken  column  for  the  height  of  five  hundred  feet. 
Would  the  comparatively  small  body  of  gas  escaping 
therewith  be  sufficient  to  force  upward  such  a  load,  exert 
ing  a  pressure  that  is  practically  unknown  in  hydraulics  ? 

In  the  cases  of  spasmodic  wells,  the  gas  may  have  a 
great  deal  to  do  with  bringing  petroleum  upward  —  in 
many,  there  can  be  no  earthly  doubt  on  the  subject.  While 
visiting  the  Dunn  well,  the  superintendent  conducted  an 
experiment  that  proved  this  point  satisfactorily.  They 
had  been  using  a  portion  of  its  gas  in  the  furnace  to  gen 
erate  heat,  but  on  turning  it  all  on  the  fire,  the  discharge 
of  oil  and  water  stopped  instantly.  After  a  few  minutes, 
the  gas  was  partly  permitted  to  escape  as  before,  when  the 
yield  began  to  return  to  its  former  amount.  In  plain  Eng 
lish,  the  energy  of  the  gas  coming  up  the  tube  was  insuf 
ficient  to  do  its  work,  and  bear  the  additional  pressure  upon 
it  necessary  to  its  confinement  with  a  view  to  use.  While 
on  this  subject,  I  may  mention  another  curious  experiment 
made  by  the  same  manager,  (Mr.  Morrell,)  who  conducted 


"Struck  Oil"— Lawlessness.  83 

this  gas  through  paper  surrounded  by  ice.  The  result 
was  that  the  gas  was  converted  into  a  white,  wax-like 
substance,  which  settled  on  the  paper,  and  is  supposed  to 
have  been  paraffine. 

Nor  will  the  theory  that  the  oil  and  briny  veins  are 
supplied  from  springs  higher  up  in  the  hills,  suffice  to  ac 
count  for  the  phenomenon.  For,  in  the  first  place,  there 
is  no  evidence  that  such  elevated  sources  exist  close  by  in 
quantities  sufficient  to  feed  such  wells  as  the  Philips,  (flow 
ing  nearly  four  thousand  barrels  daily  for  a  considerable 
period,)  and  force  it  up  to  the  surface.  The  origin  of  most 
of  our  water-springs  is  easily  accounted  for  by  percolation 
through  the  under-strata  from  higher  levels ;  but  in  the 
case  of  Artesian  wells,  constructed  on  such  interminable 
plains  as  those  of  Texas,  this  theory  proves  insufficient  to 
account  for  the  outburst  which  has  followed.  Whatever 
the  agency  or  mode  of  operating  on  Nature's  part  there, 
in  my  judgment,  the  like  has  been  at  work  in  forcing  up 
much  of  the  rock-oil. 

Even  if,  as  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  with  productive 
wells  at  first,  and  in  all  ultimately,  an  application  of  the 
pump  be  required,  the  same  lawlessness  is  found  to  prevail 
as  does  in  the  flowing  wells.  We  can  calculate  with  cer 
tainty  upon  nothing  in  the  oil-basin ;  we  need  feel  sur 
prise  at  nothing — not  even  if  the  yield  should  be  Orange 
county  milk.  The  first  revolution  of  the  engine  may 
bring  up  petroleum  or  salt  water  of  any  imaginable  degree 
of  strength.  Nay,  in  a  few  instances,  fresh  water  has  come 
up  with  the  former.  One  of  these  was  near  the  famous 
Sherman  well,  where  the  two  liquids  had  to  be  separated 
by  artificial  means.  The  case  of  the  Sherwood  and  Kelly 
well,  on  Cherry  Run,  which  threw  up  three  thousand  bar- 


84  "Sttbck  Oil"— Lawlessness. 

rels  a  day  of  fresh  water  to  the  height  of  sixty  feet,  fling 
ing  out  fragments  of  rock  several  pounds  in  weight,  is  not 
so  remarkable,  as  this  vein  was  struck  at  the  depth  of 
seventy  feet,  and  may  have  been  fed  from  the  hills  above. 
There  was  no  oil  with  that  water,  and  I  refer  to  the  cir 
cumstance  to  show  one  of  the  obstacles  that  must  occasion 
ally  be  encountered  by  operators. 

It  may  require  days  or  weeks  to  exhaust  the  heavy 
liquid  (brine)  before  the  lighter  comes  within  reach  of  the 
pump.  In  one  instance,  the  proprietor  having  got  the 
impression  that  oil  certainly  existed,  kept  on  pumping  for 
six  weeks  before  his  efforts  were  rewarded  with  success. 
The  best  well  (Ingersoll)  now  in  operation  on  the  Watson 
flats  was  incorrigible  until  nearly  the  whole  winter  months 
had  been  exhausted  in  forcing  up  the  salt  water ;  at  last, 
it  also  yielded  to  perseverance,  emitting  a  stream  of  from 
fifty  to  seventy  barrels  daily.  There  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  hundreds  of  works  have  been  abandoned  by 
those  in  charge  of  them,  because,  after  pumping  a  few 
Lours,  the  petroleum  did  not  make  its  appearance ;  yet 
the  perseverance  which  wrenches  victory  out  of  defeat 
might  have  made  them  productive.  For  it  is  one  thing  to 
be  flooded  with  salt  water  at  the  outset,  before  oil  has  been 
reached,  and  another  to  keep  on  pumping  a  well  which 
has  gradually  declined  from  a  high  figure  to  nothing,  in 
spite  of  re-tubing  and  all  the  other  known  appliances. 

And  why,  except  from  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  Dame 
Nature  to  indulge  in  freaks,  should  water  be  found  float 
ing  on  the  surface  of  oil,  the  latter  being  the  less  ponder 
able  of  the  two ;  while  gas,  coming  up  with  it,  is  impon 
derable  ?  Various  explanations  have  been  offered ;  y§t 
none,  in  my  opinion,  that  will  account  for  the  regularity 


"Struck  Oil"— Lawlessness.  85 

of  this  phenomenon.  It  has  been  supposed  that,  in  con 
sequence  of  carrying  the  lower  end  of  the  tubing  below 
the  level  of  the  petroleum,  the  latter  cannot  enter  the  ori 
fice  until  the  former,  lying  beneath  it,  has  been  expelled. 
This  crude  theory  is  confuted  by  universal  experience ; 
for  it  surely  could  not  help  happening  sometimes  that  the 
tube  would  be  so  conveniently  short  as  not  to  pass  beyond 
the  petroleum.  Besides,  if  substances  arranged  themselves 
in  the  well  according  to  their  specific  gravity,  would  not 
the  gas  make  its  appearance  first,  instead  of  its  awaiting 
the  removal  of  the  water,  and  then  assisting  to  expel  the 
more  valuable  liquid  ?  Once  more,  the  sand-pump  shows 
that,  in  numerous  instances  at  least,  the  salt  veins  are 
reached  in  boring  rather  earlier  than  the  oil  veins  ;  though 
I  concede  that  the  testimony  on  this  point  is  any  thing  but 
explicit  or  uniform.  But  it  occurs  often  enough  to  refute 
the  notion  that  the  oil  actually  reaches  the  top  in  the 
wells  and  settles  there. 

Another  explanation  has  been  offered,  namely,  that  a 
vein  or  veins  may  be  struck  at  a  point  below  the  general 
level,  where  they  are  fed  from  reservoirs  somewhat  higher 
up  ;  hence  that,  inasmuch  as  the  brine  would  settle  to  the 
bottom  in  the  natural  crevices,  it  must  be  pumped  out 
prior  to  the  oil  and  gas  being  able  to  come  downward  and 
forward.  Further,  that  it  is  by  tapping  the  source  at  the 
right  place  that  such  immensely  productive  works  as  the 
Philips,  the  Noble,  the  Sherman,  and  the  Coquette  have 
begun  to  produce  at  once  such  prodigious  quantities  of  oil, 
and  that  almost  entirely  free  from  water.  This  theory  is 
much  more  satisfactory  than  the  former ;  yet  it  will  not 
suffice  to  explain  the  regularity — almost  uniformity — of 
brine  being  found  first  in  order.  If,  in  the  multitudes  of 


86  "Struck  Oil"— Lawlessness. 

experiments  made,  petroleum  came  first  as  often  as  does 
the  salt  water,  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  look  further. 
Unfortunately  for  it,  such  is  not  the  case.  It  does  not 
appear  reasonable  that  the  lower  reservoir  should  be  al 
most  invariably  struck  by  borers,  and  the  upper  scarcely 
ever.  Some  other  solution  of  the  difficulty  must  be  sought 
to  cover  this  unexpected  regularity  in  the  heaviest  sub 
stance  coming  up  first — one  which  will  apply  to  the 
ninety -nine  cases  as  well  as  the  hundredth.  Elsewhere  I 
have  alluded  to  Mr.  Morrell's  experiment  of  separating  oil 
and  water  in  the  atmospheric  pump  ;  though  whether  this 
will  apply  when  a  quantity  of  gas  is  mixed  with  the 
liquids,  I  am  not  advised. 

And  whence  the  salt  that,  in  the  form  of  brine,  gushes 
upward  from  depths  of  one  hundred  or  one  thousand  feet  ? 
Those  who  entertain  the  theory  that  petroleum  has  been 
distilled  from  the  upland  coal-beds  which  once  existed 
along  the  present  oil-basin  —  the  products  percolating 
through  the  different  strata  to  their  present  depths  —  ac 
count  for  the  existence  of  salt-springs  by  the  fresh  water 
filtering  downward  mixing  with  muriate  of  soda  in  suffi 
cient  quantity  to  form  the  brine.  But  to  account  satisfac 
torily  for  depositing  in  the  rocks  the  quantity  of  muriatic 
acid  necessary  for  this  purpose,  is  every  whit  as  difficult 
as  to  answer  the  original  question.  It  has  been  only  re 
moved  one  stage  further  off.  The  salt  water  has  its  po 
sition  in  the  scale,  as  has  the  fresh  water  its  assigned 
position  or  limit.  Above  the  first  sand-rock,  the  water  is 
invariably  fresh ;  between  the  first  and  the  second,  it  is 
expected  to  be  such  ;  below  that  stratum,  it  is  as  certainly 
expected  to  be  brackish  or  briny,  the  degree  probably 
depending  on  the  proportion  of  fresh  water  let  down  the 


"Struck  Oil" — lawlessness.  87 

orifice,  while  the  work  of  drilling  has  gone  on.  As  a  rule, 
the  surface  water  does  not  go  down  through  the  second 
rock,  or  the  brine  force  itself  above  it,  until  an  artificial 
opening  exists,  the  exceptions  being  so  few  in  either  case 
as  to  establish  the  general  principle  here  laid  down.  Be 
sides,  we  all  know  that  water,  in  passing  through  sand  or 
clay,  is  apt  rather  to  part  with  impurities  than  take 
others  up. 

The  only  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  existence  of  so 
many  salt-springs  is,  that  the  strata  in  which  they  abound, 
at  one  period  in  the  world's  history,  formed  parts  of  the 
ocean-bed.  This  may  have  consisted  of  limestones,  sand 
stones,  or  conglomerates,  all  saturated  with  brine,  and  re 
posing  on  what  had  been  beds  of  clay  which  contained 
carbonaceous  ingredients  ;  while  the  process  of  baking 
this  clay  into  shales  filled  it  with  cracks  and  seams,  that 
have  since  become  so  many  veins,  filled  with  salt  water  or 
petroleum  expressed  from  the  rocks  subsequently  formed ; 
the  whole  being  upheaved  to  their  present  elevations.  But 
who  shall  fill  up  the  picture  of  those  ages,  of  which  this 
is  scarcely  an  outline  ? 

The  relationship  between  brine  and  petroleum  is  in 
timate,  yet  they  are  not  invariably  found  close  together. 
Where  oil  is  got  in  the  second  sand-rock,  it  has  sometimes 
happened  that  the  "  show"  of  salt  water  was  scarcely  per 
ceptible  in  or  above  the  oil  vein.  By  sinking  a  few  feet 
deeper,  however,  the  brine  would  flow  up  so  profusely  as 
to  completely  monopolize  the  tube  and  choke  off  the  more 
desirable  product.  An  instance  of  this  happened  in  Frank 
lin,  involving  the  immediate  ruin  of  a  profitable  well.  An 
other  disaster  of  the  same  kind,  close  by,  was  only  pre 
vented  by  forcing  down  a  plug,  which  stopped  any  further 


88  "Si/ruck  Oil" — Lawlessness. 

uprising  of  the  salt  water.  But  as  a  rule,  the  two  are 
found  in  such  close  contiguity  that  it  is  difficult  to  decide 
which  has  been  sooner  reached.  At  Tideoute,  the  alli 
ance  is  so  intimate  that  it  has  come  to  be  considered  a 
maxim :  "  No  salt,  no  oil."  As  to  the  why  or  wherefore 
of  this  connection,  our  superficial  philosophy  must  place 
its  finger  on  the  lip,  and  be  modestly  silent — for  the  pre 
sent. 

Nor  does  the  law  of  lawlessness  end  here.  As  men 
have  been  accustomed  to  measure  the  decreasing  tempera 
ture,  in  ascending  from  the  sea-level,  so  have  they  mea 
sured  its  increase  downward,  as  found  in  mines,  caverns, 
and  the  like.  This  increase  is  about  one  degree  Fahren 
heit  for  every  sixty  feet.  At  this  rate,  we  should 
find  the  oil,  water,  gas,  etc.,  brought  up  from  a  depth 
of  six  hundred  feet,  to  be  (say)  ten  degrees  hotter  than 
they  are  ordinarily  found  on  the  surface.  My  atten 
tion  was  first  called  to  the  contrary  by  the  superintendent 
of  the  Cherry  Yalley  Oil  Company,  who  observed  that 
from  the  Yankee  well  oil  flowed  very  little  above  the 
freezing  point.  In  some  few  instances,  whether  owing  to 
careless  observations  or  Nature's  freakishness,  his  remarks 
were  not  borne  out  by  other  operators,  but  in  many  more 
they  were  fully  confirmed.  Mr.  Ostrom,  of  Titusville, 
who  has  been  some  years  at  work  in  the  valley,  took  the 
pains  to  test  this  matter  by  the  thermometer.  He  ob 
serves  that  different  wells  range  through  various  degrees 
of  temperature,  according  to  the  season.  In  winter  this  is 
not  apt  to  be  so  low  as  in  summer,  when  it  is  usually  found 
as  far  down  as  forty  or  forty -five  degrees ;  at  the  opposite 
season  it  rises,  in  some  wells,  up  to  sixty  degrees,  causing 
a  smoke  to  ascend  from  the  surface  of  the  tank.  The 


"Si/ruck  Oil"— Lawlessness.  89 

tests  in  all  cases  were  made  in  a  pail-full  of  liquid,  as  dis 
charged  from  the  pipe,  in  which  the  heat  and  cold  would 
both  be  somewhat  modified.  The  whole  subject  requires 
much  more  extended  observations  than  have  yet  been 
given  to  it,  previous  to  making  which  it  is  not  advisable 
to  theorize  respecting  the  causes  at  work  in  producing  this 
effect.  The  circumstance  shows,  however,  that  men  who 
have  undertaken  to  calculate  at  what  distance  from  the 
surface  our  globe  is  in  a  liquid  state,  have  reckoned 
altogether  too  fast. 

Indeed,  as  if  with  a  design  to  nullify  theories  or  teach 
ings  of  any  kind  as  to  the  subterranean  world,  and  abso 
lutely  to  bewilder  the  investigator,  rendering  him  hope 
less  of  arriving  at  any  general  conclusions,  we  have  the 
fact  vouched  for  by  multitudes  of  experienced  operators, 
that  wells  yield  much  less  freely  in  winter  than  in  the  summer 
season.  This  assertion  is  also  called  in  question  by  some 
practical  men,  who  seem  to  be  as  diverse  in  their  relating 
matters  of  fact,  as  Nature  is  erratic  in  carrying  on  her  pro 
cesses.  Thus,  an  intelligent  superintendent  at  Petroleum 
Centre  admits  the  fact  of  a  difference  to  a  slight  extent, 
but  denies  that  it  should  be  attributed  to  the  cause  as 
signed,  namely,  the  agency  of  or  sympathy  with  condi 
tions  existing  in  our  upper  atmosphere.  His  belief  is, 
that  the  collection  of  paraffine  in  the  tubes,  which  is  much 
greater  during  cold  than  hot  weather,  and  prevents  the 
free  passage  of  oil,  water,  and  gas,  creates  all  the  difficulty. 
As  proof  of  this  theory,  he  alleges  that  the  paraffine  col 
lects  chiefly  on  that  part  of  the  tube  which  is  near  the  sur 
face  and  thus  exposed  to  the  atmosphere.  Elsewhere  I 
was  assured  that  they  had  "  tested  "  this  explanation  by 
re-tubing  in  winter ;  but  invariably  they  found  the  same 


90  "Struck  Oil"— Lawlessness. 

decrease  at  that  season.  They  pointed  also  to  the  Noble, 
the  Fountain,  and  other  flowing  wells,  which  suspended 
action  altogether  in  winter ;  while  the  pumping-wells  on 
whole  farms  had  been  found  so  unprofitable  then  that 
their  managers  either  stopped  altogether,  or  kept  on  to 
prevent  the  supply  of  petroleum  from  stopping  for  all 
time.  Some  managers  report  a  difference  of  thirty  per 
cent  between  the  average  production  of  wells  in  summer 
and  winter.  The  superintendent  of  the  Briggs  Oil  Com 
pany  declares  he  can  predict  changes  in  the  weather  for 
twenty -four  hours  in  advance  by  observing  the  yield  of 
his  wells.  On  the  approach  of  a  cold  rain  or  snow-storm, 
they  begin  to  slacken  up  a  fall  day  beforehand.  On  the 
other  hand,  after  commencing  to  yield  more  freely,  it  is 
safe  to  calculate  upon  pleasant  weather.  No  better  ba 
rometer,  he  alleges,  could  be  devised  to  forecast  the  out 
break  of  storms  than  the  decreased  production  of  these 
long  tubes,  with  petroleum  instead  of  mercury.  He  thinks 
the  are  changes  wrought  by  heat  and  cold,  not  the  mere 
presence  or  absence  of  a  certain  quantity  of  moisture  in  the 
atmosphere.  The  Forest  City  well  did  not  yield  twenty- 
five  barrels  per  day  during  the  dead  of  winter  in  1863-4, 
but  recovered  to  an  average  of  eighty-five  barrels  next 
summer.  In  December  last  it  gave  out  altogether,  and  so 
continued  till  the  eighth  of  March,  when  oil  once  more 
made  its  appearance,  but  in  small  quantities  at  first. 

Testimony  to  the  same  effect  is  so  abundant,  that  it 
cannot  be  upset  by  the  experience,  much  less  by  the  opin 
ion,  of  a  few  individuals,  no  matter  how  trustworthy  as 
observers  and  narrators.  But  the  difference  between  sum 
mer  and  winter  production  is  doubtless  not  so  great  in 
new  as  in  old  wells,  or  in  flowing  as  in  pumping  ones.  It 


cl  Struck  Oil " — Lawlessness.  91 

is  in  that  stage  of  decay,  approaching  exhaustion,  where 
the  gas  cooperates  less  vigorously  with  the  pump,  that 
the  greatest  diversity  as  to  season  is  found.  But  how  or 
why  such  intimate  sympathy  should  exist,  when  every 
means  is  used  to  exclude  air  from  reaching  the  fountains, 
or  gas  from  passing  upward,  except  through  the  tubes,  I 
do  not  pretend  to  be  able  to  explain. 

Perhaps  one  or  two  other  observations  may  assist  the 
reader  in  arriving  at  a  better  understanding  of  the  subject. 
The  localities  where  this  aerial  sympathy  is  most  acutely 
felt,  contain  large  numbers  of  old  and  idle  wells.  In  those 
which  have  been  sunk  on  ground  least  punctured  by  the 
drill,  I  believe  there  is  the  least  cause  for  complaint. 
Still,  at  the  Economy  wells,  near  Tideoute,  where  the 
land  has  been  little  bored  on  that  side  of  the  river,  there 
is  an  acknowledged  difference  of  fifteen  or  twenty  per 
cent  in  favor  of  the  summer  season.  The  veins  supplying 
those  wells  have  certainly  not  been  reached  by  others 
within  the  distance  of  half  a  mile. 

Mr.  Fox,  manager  of  the  large  interest  owning  Petro 
leum  Centre,  observes  that  sometimes  wells  flow  pure 
water,  then  oil  alone,  then  water  only.  In  that  locality, 
he  believes  the  oil  and  water  are  got  together  below  the 
third  sand-rock. 

Even  with  regard  to  the  veins  of  petroleum,  such  a 
degree  of  uncertainty  exists,  in  advance  of  actual  trial, 
that  they  may  be  justly  placed  among  the  objects  or  phe 
nomena  subject  to  the  law  of  lawlessness.  Before  sinking 
a  well,  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  foresee  whether  it  will  or 
will  not  strike  the  oil-vein  that  feeds  a  neighboring  well. 
Scores  of  instances  might  be  brought  forward  to  prove 
that  a  constant  and  intimate  sympathy  below  ground  does 


92  "Struck  Oil" — Lawlessness. 

exist  between  wells  situated  hundreds  of  yards  apart.  On 
the  celebrated  Tarr  farm,  several  weeks  were  consumed 
last  spring  in  pumping  out  the  water  which  had  collected 
from  above,  in  consequence  of  withdrawing  the  tubes  and 
leaving  the  orifices  open.  This  water  passed  from  one 
well  to  another,  flooding  those  on  the  whole  farm.  The 
same  costly  process  has  to  be  gone  through  with  the  pres 
ent  season,  many,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  having  just  be 
gun  to  discharge  the  bilge- water,  which  had  been  collect 
ing  during  the  winter  months.  The  great  Philips  spring 
was  reached  by  a  rival  interest,  which  carried  off  two 
thousand  barrels  a  day,  and  nearly  dried  up  the  original 
source.  By  withdrawing  the  tubes,  each  manager  found 
he  could  render  the  other  work  utterly  unproductive. 
Finally,  after  much  litigation  and  delay,  the  difficulty 
was  settled  by  each  proprietor  agreeing  to  give  the  other 
one  third  of  his  own  yield,  on  condition  of  the  other  keep 
ing  his  tubes  in  proper  order.  In  one  case,  this  connec 
tion  was  so  intimate,  through  subterranean  channels,  that 
the  sounds  made  in  drilling  one,  though  not  audible  at  its 
mouth,  could  be  heard  coming  up  the  next  well.  On  the 
Watson  flats,  a  torpedo,  let  down  nearly  five  hundred  feet 
into  an  exhausted  well,  exploded  and  started  the  oil  in 
another,  though  nearly  half  a  mile  distant,  improving  the 
character  of  the  one  subjected  to  the  operation.  On  the 
other  hand,  Mr.  Duncan,  an  experienced  operator,  assured 
me  that  one  of  his  wells,  which  had  been  sunk  close  by 
the  boundary -line  of  his  lot,  yielded  so  largely  as  to  excite 
the  cupidity  of  a  neighbor.  The  latter  decided  to  bore  at 
a  point  within  eleven  feet  of  Mr.  D.'s  well.  After  sinking 
some  distance,  an  offer  to  pay  all  expenses  then  incurred, 
on  condition  of  abandoning  the  attempt,  was  promptly  re- 


"Struck  Oil" — Lawlessness.  93 

jected.  The  work  was  carried  down  to  a  point  below  the 
Duncan  well,  but  it  yielded  nothing.  Not  disheartened 
at  this  failure,  the  intruder  made  a  second  attempt  at  tap 
ping  the  spring,  going  a  few  feet  further  off  and  in  a  some 
what  different  direction ;  the  result  was  a  yield  of  about 
one  barrel  per  day  for  a  time,  which  led  him  to  abandon 
the  enterprise.  Many  other  instances  of  the  same  sort 
might  be  adduced,  showing  that  the  notion  entertained  by 
some  of  a  grand  reservoir  of  oil  lying  below  ground  at  a 
given  depth,  is  unsupported  by  facts.  Even  a  well  sunk 
in  a  direct  line  between  two  producing  works  does  not  in 
variably  strike  the  common  vein ;  for  though  passing 
within  a  few  inches  of  the  spot,  a  bed  of  clay  or  solid 
rock  may  forbid  the  exit  of  petroleum. 

"  Surface  indications,"  it  has  been  shown,  relate  simply 
to  the  oil-springs  found  in  the  upper  sand-rock,  and  these 
are  commonly  so  insignificant  that  operators  pay  little  at 
tention  to  them.  To  reach  the  more  abundant  sources  in 
the  inferior  rocks  there  is  no  certain  guide,  the  only  ap 
proach  to  such  being  to  get  as  nearly  as  possible  on  a 
direct  line  between  other  producing  wells.  The  law  of 
lawlessness  also  applies  to  the  quantity  of  oil  which  a  spring 
will  yield  after  being  reached,  as  truly  as  to  its  prospects 
in  advance.  Two  wells  may  be  within  fifty  feet  of  each 
other,  as  closely  as  they  can  be  operated  to  advantage ; 
yet,  while  one  pours  forth  a  hundred  barrels  per  day,  the 
other  will  refuse  to  give  out  more  ^han  ten.  Even  their 
modes  of  contributing  these  quotas  will  vary,  one  flowing 
by  fits  and  starts,  the  other  emitting  a  steady  stream  in 
response  to  the  pump.  The  one  may  run  two  years, 
while  the  other  becomes  exhausted  perhaps  at  the  end  of 
three  months  or  thirty  days.  Commonly,  the  contrast  is 


94:  "Struck  Oil" — Lawlessness. 

not  so  sharp  as  this,  wells  on  the  same  vein  having  a  good 
degree  of  sympathy  with  each  other ;  yet  the  purchaser 
ought  to  make  the  possibility  of  an  entire  diversity  in 
time  as  truly  as  in  yield,  enter  into  his  calculations  as  to 
productiveness. 

In  no  other  respect  does  the  apparent  capriciousness  of 
Nature  manifest  itself  more  clearly  than  in  the  duration  of 
an  oil-spring.  The  fact  that  wells  would  give  out  at  last  was 
unknown,  until  it  had  been  proved  by  abundant  and  most 
painful  evidences.  It  is  still  called  in  question  by  some, 
who  are  either  ignorant  of  the  country  or  interested  in 
creating  misconceptions  in  the  public  mind.  After  so 
large  a  proportion  of  the  works  have  gone  through  the 
several  stages  of  flowing,  pumping,  deepening,  re-reaming, 
etc.,  and  then  refused  to  contribute  enough  to  pay  ex 
penses,  it  is  unpardonable  for  persons  at  the  East  to  be 
caught  napping,  either  by  investing  their  means  in  defunct 
concerns  or  expecting  productive  ones  to  last  for  ever. 
The  excuses  which  a  stranger  is  apt  to  hear  or  observe  in 
print  as  to  the  number  of  idle  derricks,  are  endless,  and 
ought  to  arouse  suspicion  at  once.  "  Oh  !  she  was  dam 
aged  by  the  flood  ;"  as  if  a  very  profitable  enterprise  would 
be  even  temporarily  abandoned  for  the  lack  of  a  few  thou 
sand  dollars,  which  could  be  repaid  within  as  many  weeks. 
"  She  was  never  put  down  deep  enough  ;"  as  if  the  apologist 
had  been  in  the  basement  story,  and  examined  how  much 
further  it  was  to  the*great  petroleum  reservoir.  "She 
was  abandoned  in  1861,  when  oil  had  sunk  in  price  to 
twenty-five  cents  a  barrel,  and  has  never  been  worked 
since ;"  as  if  crude  petroleum  had  not  since  advanced  to 
half  as  many  dollars  per  barrel  at  the  well.  "  Her  lease 
has  expired,  and  she  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  original 


"Si/ruck  Oil" — Lawlessness.  95 

owners  of  the  land ;"  as  if  they  or  thousands  of  others 
would  not  have  rushed  to  the  rescue  of  a  productive  con 
cern,  which  was  going  to  ruin  for  want  of  a  little  means. 
Barely,  indeed,  are  these  excuses  more  than  founded  on 
fact,  the  truth  in  almost  all  cases  being,  that  the  wells 
have  gone  dry  or  were  unproductive  at  first.  The  chances 
are  believed  to  be  quite  as  many  in  favor  of  sinking  a 
new  well  as  of  deepening  an  old  one,  even  though  it  may 
not  have  reached  a  greater  depth  than  three  hundred  feet 
in  the  first  instance. 

Of  those  which  were  bored  as  early  as  1861,  I  think  it 
safe  to  estimate  that  not  more  than  one  in  a  hundred  have 
continued  to  yield  steadily  ever  since,  and  are  now  afford 
ing  enough  to  pay  operating  expenses.  The  Economy 
wells  at  Tideoute  are  most  remarkable  exceptions  in  this 
respect.  The  fact  that  that  spring  should  have  been 
reached  within  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  the  surface, 
makes  the  "  record  "  of  those  works  the  more  interesting. 
Certainly  the  whole  region  of  Petrolia  has  no  parallel 
cases  to  these  ;  and  at  this  moment  I  do  not  recall  a  soli 
tary  instance  where  a  well,  no  matter  to  what  depth  sunk, 
has  continued  to  flow  or  pump,  without  serious  interrup 
tion,  for  four  years,  as  they  have  done.  Let  no  lucky  ad 
venturer  who  may  strike  oil  lay  the  flattering  unction  to 
his  soul,  that  the  spring  which  foams  and  bleeds  so  pro 
fusely  in  his  presence  will  continue  to  pour  forth  oil  in 
paying  quantities  for  four,  three,  or  perhaps  even  two 
years.  Before  the  end  of  eighteen  months,  it  will  not  only 
call  frequently  for  repairs  and  renewals,  but  probably 
have  settled  down  to  figures  so  modest  as  barely  to  cover 
working  expenses.  An  oil-spring  insurance  company, 
did  such  exist,  would  not  issue  a  policy,  upon  the  first 


96  "Struck  Oil" — Lawlessness. 

discharge  of  a  well,  that  it  would  hold  out  longer  than 
twelve  months ;  at  any  rate,  it  would  be  unsafe  to  accept 
the  risk  of  its  continuing  to  yield  more  than  ten  per  cent 
of  the  average  of  its  first  month's  production.  Indeed, 
experts  have  assured  me  that  they  have  set  down  nine 
months  as  the  ordinary  period  of  gestation  ;  so  that  what 
additional  contributions  may  be  made  are  such  as  the 
lucky  possessor  has  no  right  to  expect. 

But  as  this  is  a  matter  more  properly  belonging  to  the 
financial  question  than  the  idiosyncrasies  of  Petrolia,  I 
leave  its  further  discussion  for  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER   Y. 

OBSTACLES  IN  THE  WAY  —  THE    MEANS    USED  TO   OVER 
COME  THEM. 

IN  some  form  or  other,  obstacles  to  production  present 
themselves  from  the  day  a  well  takes  its  place  among  ex 
istences  till  its  last  breath  is  spent.  As  the  human  sys 
tem  is  subject  to  diseases,  which,  with  increasing  years 
and  diminishing  strength,  augment  in  power,  ultimately 
ending  in  dissolution,  so  with  an  oil-well.  To  some  of 
these  difficulties  I  have  already  alluded ;  but  to  be  under 
stood  clearly  they  must  be  systematized  and  examined 
more  fully  under  a  separate  head. 

One  of  the  first  obstructions  encountered  is  the  collecting 
of  paraffine,  a  substance  whose  qualities  and  uses  will 
be  found  explained  under  the  head  of  the  refining  of 
petroleum.  It  collects  occasionally  on  the  pump-rods, 
preventing  their  free  passage  up  and  down  in  the  tube ; 
a  good  well  on  the  Miller  farm  had  been  thus  thrown  idle 
for  some  days,  when  I  visited  it.  More  frequently,  how 
ever,  especially  during  winter,  this  substance  collects  on 
the  inside  of  the  tubes  with  the  same  effect.  In  such  an 
event,  it  is  probable  the  adhesive  element  might  be  re 
moved  by  heat,  causing  it  to  melt,  run  down  to  the  bot 
tom,  and  come  up  mingled  with  the  oil.  To  accomplish 
this,  it  is  only  necessary  to  direct  a  current  of  steam  down 
5 


98  Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc. 

the  tube  for  some  time.  As,  however,  the  real  cause  of 
failure  on  the  well's  part  can  only  be  guessed  at,  previous 
to  examination,  it  is  customary  to  withdraw  the  tubes, 
unscrew  them,  clean  them  out,  and  afterward  replace 
them.  In  a  deep  well,  these  operations  will  consume  from 
two  days  to  a  week,  according  to  the  quantity  of  water 
collecting  below.  The  task  requires  three  or  four  men  to 
perform  it,  and  is  altogether  one  of  the  least  pleasant  in 
that  country. 

Quite  as  frequently  this  waxy  intruder  is  found  adher 
ing  to  the  sides  of  the  well,  alighting,  precisely  where  it 
ought  not  to  alight,  on  the  oil-veins,  and  sealing  them  up 
as  tightly  as  if  the  operation  had  been  performed  by  hand, 
with  the  use  of  sealing-wax.  Here  again  the  trouble  is 
that  managers,  being  in  the  upper  world,  can  have  no  cer 
tain  knowledge  of  the  difficulty.  As  far  as  known  there, 
the  stoppage  may  be  owing  to  the  collecting  of  paraffine 
or  to  exhaustion  in  the  supply.  The  tubes  must  once 
more  be  pulled  up  and  examined.  If  nothing  be  found 
the  matter  with  them,  the  supposition  next  in  order  is 
that  paraffine  has  collected  on  the  sides  of  the  well.  To 
remove  this  a  tube  is  put  down  a  long  distance,  and 
through  it  is  directed  a  column  of  steam,  which  dissolves 
the  adhesive  substance  and  restores  the  power  of  the  oil- 
veins.  This  consumes  quite  as  much  time  as  the  other 
operation. 

If  this  proceeding  fails  to  accomplish  the  end  desired, 
recourse  is  sometimes  had  to  the  torpedo,  a  thin  cast-iron 
tube,  four  or  five  feet  in  length,  and  filled  with  gunpow 
der,  which  is  fired  by  mea,ns  of  a  galvanic  wire.  The  ob 
ject  of  this  is  to  open  or  reopen  fractures  in  the  rocks, 
and  liberate  quantities  of  petroleum  locked  up  in  them. 


Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc.  99 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  trouble,  as  well  as  some  outlay, 
connected  with  this  device;  and  the  experiments  made 
with  it  have  been  too  few  as  yet  to  justify  any  general 
conclusion  respecting  its  merits.  The  fact  that  such,  an 
explosion  should  have  started  the  petroleum  in  a  well  far 
distant,  suggests  the  inquiry  whether  expenditures  of  the 
kind  should  not  be  borne  equally  by  all  companies  and 
individuals  in  a  neighborhood,  whose  wells  require  "  re 
juvenation  "  ?  One  work  is  as  likely  to  gain  benefit  as 
another  from  the  operation. 

"When  steam-pipe  and  torpedo  alike  fail  to  restore  a  well 
to  its  pristine  vigor,  or  at  least  to  a  paying  condition,  and 
the  manager  has  the  quality  of  perseverance,  it  is  cus 
tomary  to  resort  to  other  processes.  The  next  step  is 
commonly  to  sink  to  a  greater  depth,  particularly  if  the 
well  were  put  down,  in  the  first  place,  less  than  five  hun 
dred  feet.  Along  the  Alleghany  and  on  various  parts  of 
Oil  and  French  Creeks,  this  operation  is  now  in  progress 
or  contemplation  at  some  hundreds  of  works.  In  the 
great  majority  of  cases,  however,  it  is  undertaken  by  new 
interests,  into  whose  hands  the  property  has  fallen  by 
lease  or  purchase.  By  looking  over  the  chapter  on  the 
statistics  of  production,  the  reader  will  find  many  in 
stances  where  such  endeavors  have  proved  successful  to  a 
moderate  degree — very  seldom,  however,  in  tapping  a  big 
spring  lower  down,  after  a  tolerably  good  one  had  been 
exhausted  in  a  higher  stratum.  When  it  is  considered 
that  in  that  chapter  little  mention  has  been  made  of  un 
productive  wells,  except  to  group  them  in  mass,  I  am.  in 
clined  to  think  that  scarcely  one  well  in  seven — perhaps 
not  even  one  in  ten — ever  succeeds  in  getting  petroleum 
sufficient  to  pay  the  additional  outlay  incurred  in  deepen- 


100  Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc. 

ing  it.  Certainly  not  one  in  fifty  becomes  a  second-class 
concern,  yielding  from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  barrels 
per  day,  for  the  space  of  twelve  months. 

The  other  proceeding  is  to  ream  out  the  well,  increas 
ing  its  diameter  from  four  to  five  or  six  inches.  This  has 
not  been  resorted  to  in  nearly  as  many  instances  as  deep 
ening  ;  but  I  think  the  experiments  already  made  and 
the  impressions  of  the  workmen  thus  engaged,  will  bear 
me  out  in  saying  that  it  is  not  likely  to  be  more  success 
ful  than  the  other.  The  theory  in  re-reaming  is  that,  be 
ing  much  more  easily  performed  than  boring  anew,  it  not 
only  removes  accretions  from  the  side  of  the  well,  but 
may  lay  open  new  springs  or  veins,  separated  from  the 
boring  by  very  slender  partitions.  Full  and  accurate  sta 
tistical  information,  drawn  from  whole  sections  of  the  oil 
regions,  is  highly  desirable.  The  trouble  now  is,  that  in 
this,  as  in  nearly  all  other  matters  relating  to  Petrolia,  the 
successes  are  blazed  abroad  by  telegraph,  newspaper,  and 
private  epistle ;  while  the  failures  are  glozed  over,  or  at 
best  only  touched  upon,  as  if  they  were  matters  of  which 
the  public  must  be  kept  in  profound  ignorance. 

Among  the  many  hindrances  experienced  is  the  ineffi 
ciency  of  engines,  either  by  their  getting  out  of  order  or 
having  to  stop  from  a  deficiency  of  coal.  Either  of  these 
drawbacks  puts  a  complete  stop  to  the  production  of  pe 
troleum,  without  making  any  diminution  on  the  score  of 
expenses.  The  engines  first  imported  were  almost  lite 
rally  "  one-horse  "  machines.  Their  boilers  were  insuffi 
cient  to  generate  the  quantity  of  steam  since  found  requi 
site  to  drive  the  pumps.  The  cylindrical  part  being  usu 
ally  from  twenty-four  to  twenty-eight  inches  in  diameter, 
and  from  four  and  a  half  to  five  feet  in  length,  the  power 


Obstacles  in  the  Way,  ^fe  tOl 

produced  ranged  between  five  and  eight  horses.  Not  that 
in  every  case  a  very  large  mechanical  force  is  required 
for  that  purpose,  the  law  of  lawlessness  applying  to  this 
as  to  all  other  departments  of  Petrolia.  In  some  wells  a 
pressure  of  ten  pounds  to  the  inch  has  been  found  suffi 
cient  for  all  purposes,  in  others  six  or  seven  times  that 
pressure  is  needed.  As  the  wants  of  a  well  cannot  be 
foreseen,  skilful  operators  now  judge  it  advisable  to  en 
large  the  capacity  and  augment  the  strength  of  boiler 
and  engine,  which  are,  accordingly,  now  made  sufficient 
to  give  twelve,  fifteen,  or  twenty  horse-power.  On  ^the 
properties  of  several  companies  one  engine  is  geared  to 
two  pumps,  or  to  one  pump  and  a  drilling  apparatus. 
Near  Titusville,  a  forty-horse  engine  has  been  introduced 
and  set  to  pumping  three  wells,  to  which  a  fourth  will 
shortly  be  added.  The  results  appear  to  be  perfectly  sat 
isfactory,  as  is  manifest  from  the  number  of  small  engines 
which  are  for  sale  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Indeed, 
considering  the  contiguity  of  numbers  of  wells  on  many 
farms  with  the  high  prices  of  labor  and  fuel,  the  marvel 
is  that  engines  with  long  lines  of  shafting  have  not  been 
already  introduced  to  furnish  power  at  rates  more  reason 
able  than  it  can  be  obtained  for  at  present. 

The  inability  of  motive  power  to  do  its  work,  or  its 
temporary  failure  through  accidents,  is  a  serious  loss, 
since  repairs  are  equally  costly  and  dilatory.  To  the  best 
of  my  knowledge,  there  is  not  a  shop  in  the  oil  region 
where  a  boiler  and  steam-engine  can  be  renovated,  if 
badly  broken  down.  The  demands  upon  the  shops  at 
Buffalo,  Pittsburgh,  Philadelphia,  Paterson,  and  New- 
burgh,  have  hitherto  been  such  that  new  engines  could  be 
obtained  only  after  months  of  delay,  as  well  as  by  paying 


102  Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc. 

double  the  prices  which  they  would  formerly  have  com 
manded.  Why,  among  the  thousands  of  manufacturers 
and  nfechanics  who  have  visited  Yenango  county,  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  boiler-shop  and  engine-shop  should  have 
been  overlooked,  I  am  unable  to  conjecture,  unless  it  has 
been  owing  to  the  extravagant  prices  charged  for  land 
and  services  of  all  kinds,  the  cupidity  of  speculators  thus 
checking  the  growth  of  industry,  the  settlement  of  the 
country,  and  in  the  end  cutting  its  own  throat. 

Getting  out  of  fuel  is  one  of  the  many  temporary  annoy- 
anc$s  experienced  by  oil  companies.  At  first  sight,  this 
would  hardly  appear  possible,  in  view  of  the  abundance 
of  fire- wood  still  left  in  the  country,  after  the  more  valu 
able  timber  has  been  cleared  off  and  sawn  into  lumber. 
Petrolia  has  for  boundaries  on  two  sides  the  coal-fields  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  beds  cropping  out  on  the  hill-tops,  both 
toward  the  east  and  the  south.  In  both  directions  the  seams 
are  of  sufficient  thickness  to  render  mining  profitable  in 
ordinary  times.  But  the  insane  spirit  of  speculation  has 
caused  coal-lands  to  advance  in  price  from  one  hundred  dol 
lars  to  two  thousand  dollars  per  acre,  and  thus  practically 
shut  up  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  wealth  in  that  region. 
The  people  have  to  depend  upon  the  irregular  and  uncer 
tain  supplies  received  from  Pittsburgh  by  steamer,  paying 
quadruple  prices  therefor.  With  railroads  and  steam 
boats  utterly  insufficient  to  transact  the  business  thrown 
upon  them,  and  no  common  roads  deserving  of  the  name, 
it  came  to  pass  that  bituminous  coal  commanded  from 
sixty  to  eighty  cents  per  bushel  in  Oil  City,  during  the 
past  winter ;  while  along  Oil  Creek  it  advanced  to  one 
dollar  and  even  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per 
bushel.  Here  again  is  seen  the  consequence  of  that  short- 


Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc.  103 

sighted  selfishness,  which,  refusing  to^ake  thought  for 
others  as  well  as  for  the  morrow,  leaves  the  highways  (a 
sad  misnomer !)  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Horse  rail 
roads  along  the  principal  bottoms  could  not  fail  to  be  ex 
ceedingly  remunerative. 

Sometimes  I  have  felt  indignant  at  beholding  a 
whole  posse  of  men  loitering  idly  about  a  well,  because 
they  were  out  of  coal,  which  might  not  arrive  within  a 
full  week.  There  lay  along  the  river-margin,  within  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,  drift-wood  sufficient  to  supply  fuel  for 
a  fortnight ;  there  was  abundance  on  the  slopes  immedi 
ately  above,  to  be  had  for  a  trifle,  in  addition  to  the  labor 
of  chopping  and  rolling  it  down.  The  officer  in  charge 
was  too  consequential  to  step  so  far  out  of  his  beat ;  the 
engineers  and  others  were  too  indolent  to  work  when 
they  could  do  without  it.  Between  the  two,  wells  pro 
duced  after  a  fashion,  and  shareholders  got  dividends — 
in  faith,  hope,  and  charity  ! 

In  the  chapter  on  statistics  will  be  found  occasional  re 
ferences  to  the  blower,  a  simple  apparatus,  first  introduced 
into  the  Sherman  well,  and  since  then  tried  in  several  others 
with  various  success.  The  Sherman  had  flowed  very  large 
ly  for  a  time,  but  given  out ;  resort  was  then  had  to  the 
pump,  which  also  at  length  proved  insufficient.  Finally, 
the. manager  introduced  the  instrument  mentioned  with 
quite  satisfactory  results,  the  yield  coming  up  to  between 
forty  and  sixty  barrels  a  day.  The  blower  consists  sim 
ply  of  an  iron  tube,  one  inch  in  diameter,  which  is  let 
down  into  the  well  outside  of  the  fixed  tube,  the  lower  end 
of  the  blower  being  bent  round,  so  as  to  pass  upward  into 
the  orifice  of  the  other.  A  column  of  air  is  then  forced 
down  the  small  pipe,  from  which  it  passes  into  the  larger, 


104  Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc. 

and  assists  the  neural  action  of  the  gas  in  forcing  up  the 
petroleum.  By  virtue  of  this  simple  contrivance  to  co 
operate  with  Nature,  that  well  has  gone  forward  for  some 
months  without  any  material  diminution  that  I  could 
learn.  In  other  cases,  however,  the  result  was  far  from 
being  equally  satisfactory.  The  manager  of  the  Noble 
and  Delamater  well  tried  the  blower,  under  which  the 
total  yield  amounted  to  twenty-five  barrels,  when  the  oil 
ceased  to  flow.  In  others,  again,  after  using  the  blower 
without  success,  it  has  been  taken  out,  and  replaced  by  the 
pump,  with  a  decided  improvement  in  the  yield.  It  de 
serves  mention  that  these  instruments  are  not  all  similar 
in  design ;  and  that  some  are  regarded  worthless  under  all 
circumstances.  Before  purchasing,  it  would  be  well  to 
obtain  a  guarantee  of  satisfactory  results,  provided  it  can 
be  proved  that  oil  exists  in  the  well  to  be  subjected  to 
the  experiment.  On  this  matter,  as  of  every  other,  the 
experience  of  both  practical  and  disinterested  men  is 
highly  desirable. 

The  cost  of  transporting  petroleum,  in  bulk  or  barrels,  to 
the  nearest  point  of  shipment,  is  one  of  those  obstacles 
now  felt  in  preventing  the  further  extension  of  that  great 
enterprise.  As  a  specimen  of  the  rates  prevailing  since 
the  opening  of  navigation,  I  may  state  that  boatmen  are 
in  the  habit  of  charging  one  dollar  per  barrel  for  convey 
ing  it  from  Petroleum  Centre  four  miles  up  to  Shaffer's 
station,  or  eight  miles  down  to  Oil  City.  Before  the 
opening  of  the  railroad  from  Franklin  to  Oil  City,  it  was 
customary  to  charge  two  dollars  per  barrel  for  transport 
ing  it  seven  miles,  during  the  winter  season.  A  railroad 
between  Shaffer's  and  Oil  City  could  make  money  by  car 
rying  a  barrel  the  whole  distance  for  twenty-five  cents. 


Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc.  105 

But  in  spite  of  this  obvious  truth,  staring  stockholders 
and  managers  in  the  face — in  spite  of  troublesome  delays 
as  well  as  extravagant  changes,  the  Petrolians  are  content 
to  trudge  through  mud  and  grease,  the  noblest  of  God's 
subordinate  creatures  being  murdered  every  year  by  thou 
sands.  I  know  of  no  better  means  for  bringing  the  fero 
cious  drivers  to  something  like  feeling  than  to  apply  to 
them  the  blows  they  are  wont  to  administer  to  the  broken- 
down  quadrupeds,  often  in  the  agonies  of  death.  In  one 
instance  at  least,  an  earnest  threat  from  a  spectator  to  give 
blow  for  blow  had  the  desired  effect,  and  the  poor  crea 
ture  was  permitted  to  heave  his  expiring  groans  free  from 
the  devilish  treatment  which  he  was  then  perhaps  too 
unconscious  to  feel. 

The  newly  imposed  tax  of  one  dollar  per  barrel  laid  by 
the  general  government  on  crude  oil,  is  a  subject  of  much 
complaint,  not  only  on  account  of  its  pecuniary  weight,  but 
for  the  other  annoyances  in  connection  with  it.  One  of  these 
will  doubtless  be  the  frequent  exercise  of  that  rule  known 
as  "reduction  descending,"  in  regard  to  the  reported  yield 
of  many  wells !  But  this  topic  belongs  rather  to  the 
financial  than  the  mechanical  head,  and  I  pass  it  by  for 
the  present  with  merely  alluding  to  it. 

The  losses  and  troubles  arising  from  owners  or  agents 
withdrawing  the  tubes  and  leaving  idle  wells  open,  have 
been  noticed  in  a  previous  chapter.  Elsewhere  the  neces 
sity  of  stringent  legislation  is  urged  upon  the  state 
authorities. 

No  inconsiderable  loss  was  occasioned  last  winter  from 
the  inability  of  the  great  railroad  companies  to  transport 
the  petroleum  (whether  crude  or  refined)  eastward.  The 
consequence  of  this  was  an  immense  accumulation  of  it  at 


106  Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc. 

various  points,  where  it  could  neither  be  shipped  nor 
made  a  means  of  raising  money,  however  much  the  man 
agers  might  be  in  want  of  it.  Dividends,  of  course,  were . 
out  of  the  question.  The  industrial  changes  consequent 
on  a  restoration  of  peace  will  probably  prevent  a  repeti 
tion  of  this  misfortune  for  some  years. 

A  decided  drawback  on  the  business  as  a  whole,  is  the 
great  fluctuation  in  prices  happening  every  little  while.  In 
March  last,  the  price  of  crude  illuminating  oil  was  from 
ten  to  twelve  dollars  per  barrel  at  the  wells ;  at  one  time 
in  April  it  had  sunk  to  three  dollars,  a  fall  of  seventy  per 
cent !  Even  this  lapsus  was  nothing  like  so  ruinous  as 
that  which  was  experienced  in  1861,  when  the  great  flow 
ing  wells  down  Oil  Creek  were  first  struck.  For  many 
weeks  petroleum  was  sold  for  twenty-five  and  even  ten 
cents  per  barrel — in  fact,  it  was  not  thought  to  be  worth 
barrelling  at  all.  There  was  no  resource  but  to  wait  and 
extend  the  introduction  of  this  article,  which  was  duly  ac 
complished  in.  time,  though  not  till  tens  of  thousands  of 
barrels  of  it  had  gone  to  waste.  The  wild  excitement  of 
last  winter  and  spring,  attended  with  such  a  rush  of  peo 
ple  to  the  oil  regions,  had  its  influence  in  lowering  prices 
last  April.  If  most  of  the  wells  were  really  as  successful 
as  they  are  represented  to  be,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  price  of  oil  would  sink  to  a  still  lower  figure  than 
three  dollars  per  barrel. 

The  high  wages  paid,  whether  directly  for  labor  or  indi 
rectly  for  its  products,  have  been  in  part  attributed  to  the 
war ;  with  its  close  there  cannot  fail  to  be  a  material  de 
cline  in  both.  It  is  questionable,  however,  whether  com 
panies  have  been  as  much  losers  from  the  high  standard 
ruling  as  from  the  unsteadiness  of  a  large  body  of  the 


Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc.  107 

workmen,  at  a  time  when  employment  is  abundant  and 
well  remunerated.     This  will  also  come  to  a  close. 

Last,  but  not  least,  among  the  troubles  to  be  expected, 
is  '•'•the  chapter  of  accidents"  arising  from  flood,  fire,  etc. 
The  mere  mention  of  this  suggests  what  a  story  of  losses 
and  crosses  has  been  told  since  the  end  of  last  March, 
when,  in  consequence  of  the  melting  of  a  whole  winter's 
accumulations  of  snow,  the  runs,  creeks,  and  rivers  over 
flowed  their  banks  and  inundated  the  lowlands,  piers, 
wharves,  etc.,  sweeping  off  property  estimated  by  some  as 
being  worth  five  millions  of  dollars  !  The  damage  done 
directly  to  wells,  together  with  the  consequent  falling  off 
in  their  production,  I  have  no  doubt  will  have  amounted 
to  as  large  a  sum  as  the  direct  destruction  of  oil  and  other 
property.  One-fifth  of  the  immense  aggregate,  applied  to 
the  construction  of  roads  and  levees,  drains  and  fences, 
with  reasonable  sagacity  in  forecasting  the  advent  of  such 
a  visitation,  might  have  warded  off  the  effects  of  that 
frightful  calamity;  as  it  is,  companies  and  individuals 
must  pay  the  penalty  of  establishing  conditions  in  which 
the  lowest  form  of  selfishness  is  the  only  recognized  prin 
ciple  of  action.  To  this  hour  Petrolia  has  refused  to 
profit  by  that  calamitous  dispensation.  It  has  opened  no 
water-courses ;  thrown  up  no  embankments  to  be  used  for 
highways  as  well  as  levees ;  has  raised  neither  well  nor 
tank  one  foot  above  its  former  level ;  but,  with  the  placid 
unconcern  of  a  believer  in  fate,  resigned  itself  to  the  next 
flood  that  may  desolate  its  valleys  and  inundate  its  streets. 
The  influx  of  capital  has  been  so  unprecedented,  that 
some  of  its  people  may  have  imagined  they  can  snap  their 
fingers  at  the  natural  laws ;  but  these  will,  in  the  end,  as 
suredly  vindicate  themselves. 


108  Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc. 

In  still  another  mode  do  losses  by  flood  occur.  During 
the  summer  months,  Oil  Creek  shrinks  to  a  mere  brook, 
insufficient  to  float  even  a  skiff  in  many  places.  At  this 
season  it  has  been  customary  to  create  artificial  floods  or 
freshets  by  the  construction  of  dams  near  the  head- waters. 
On  a  given  day  in  the  week,  these  are  opened  and  the  pent- 
up  waters  let  flow.  The  scene  is  apt  to  be  highly  excit 
ing  and  withal  not  free  from  danger,  as  the  newly-eman 
cipated  floods  rush  madly  down  the  valley,  bearing  scores 
of  huge  flat-bottomed  boats,  all  heavily  laden  with  the  pro 
ducts  of  the  wells.  Sometimes  boats,  laden  in  bulk,  collide 
with  those  laden  with  barrels,  and  both  again  crash  against 
others  which  may  be  moored  to  the  margin  of  the  creek, 
breaking  them  into  fragments  and  sending  their  cargoes 
adrift.  It  is  customary  to  give  notice  in  advance  of  these 
visitations ;  but  with  all  the  precautions  adopted,  they  are 
apt  to  be  attended  with  more  or  less  damage. 

In  speaking  of  the  effects  of  fire,  it  is  gratifying  to  find 
that  the  conflagrations  which  broke  out  with  consequences 
so  tremendous  in  the  early  history  of  this  enterprise,  have 
not  happened  in  vain.  Some  of  these  calamities  were  so 
appalling  that  they  might  almost  be  termed  national  evils. 
In  one  of  them,  near  Eouseville,  twenty-seven  persons  lost 
their  lives ;  and  seldom,  indeed,  has  a  well  taken  fire  with 
out  more  or  less  destruction  of  human  life,  as  well  as  im 
mense  amounts  of  property.  It  requires  very  little  stretch 
of  the  imagination  to  comprehend  the  effects  of  a  single 
spark  falling  in  the  wrong  place  when  a  stiff  breeze  is 
blowing.  With  hundreds  of  derricks,  tanks,  engine- 
houses,  etc.,  on  a  single  bottom — all  of  wood,  and  so  satu 
rated  with  oil  that  they  are  as  inflammable  as  tinder — nay, 
with  streams  and  pools  of  petroleum  covering  large  por- 


Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc.  109 

tions  of  the  surface,  it  requires  but  a  spark  to  cause  the 
whole  magazine  to  explode.  It  has  even  sometimes  hap 
pened  that  upon  striking  oil  suddenly,  this  liquid  would 
spirt  upward,  fall  on  the  engine-house,  and  take  fire  from 
the  furnace,  enveloping  all  the  neighboring  locality  in 
flames.  Accidents  of  this  kind  have  taken  place  so  often 
from  laborers  or  strangers  smoking  near  the  wells,  that 
the  practice  is  prohibited,  and  the  stranger  finds  numerous 
cautions  to  that  effect  wherever  he  goes. 

"  When  the  burning  well,"  writes  a  correspondent, 
"  happened  to  be  near  the  creek,  which  was  frequently 
the  case,  a  new  danger  threatened.  The  boats,  loaded 
with  oil,  took  fire,  and  burning  their  lines,  went  adrift 
down  the  stream.  As  they  passed  the  tank-boats,  filled  with 
oil  in  bulk,  the  flames  spread  to  them  with  the  rapidity  of  ' 
lightning ;  a  single  flash  and  the  whole  boat  was  in  flames. 
The  burning  boats  continued  in  their  course  of  devasta 
tion,  setting  fire  to  every  thing  they  touched  on  their 
route.  The  bursting  of  tanks  covered  the  stream  with  oil, 
which  took  fire  and  added  to  the  terrible  grandeur  of  the 
scene.  A  great  fire  of  this  kind  occurred  more  than  a 
year  ago,  when  blazing  boats  came  down  the  creek,  and, 
plunging  among  a  large  fleet  of  loaded  boats  at  Oil  City,  set 
them  on  fire ;  and  the  whole  blazing  mass  swept  down  the 
Alleghany,  burning  the  Franklin  bridge  as  they  passed, 
and  spreading  terror  for  miles  along  the  river.  .  .  . 
To  extinguish  a  burning  well,  the  only  means  discovered 
is  to  play  on  it  with  steam  from  the  boiler  of  a  neighbor 
ing  engine,  or  to  heap  the  mouth  of  the  hole  with  earth. 
To  accomplish  the  latter  is  a  work  of  great  difficulty  and 
danger,  for  the  heat  thrown  out  by  burning  petroleum  is 
intense.  For  this  reason,  a  flowing  well  that  takes  fire 


110  Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc. 

frequently  burns  for  many  days  before  the  fire  can  be  ex 
tinguished." 

The  wrecks  left  by  such  a  visitation  are  scarcely  notice 
able,  consisting  of  a  few  long  hoops  that  have  fallen  from 
the  tanks.  Every  thing  else  is  sure  to  be  licked  up. 
Last  winter,  several  works,  about  a  mile  above  Petroleum 
Centre,  took  fire  and  disappeared ;  and  not  a  few  of  the 
derricks  arising  in  different  parts  of  the  oil  regions,  sup 
posed  by  the  visitor  to  indicate  the  sinking  of  new  wells, 
are  simply  replacing  old  works  which  have  perished  by 
flood  or  flame. 

In  perusing  the  various  accounts  of  conflagrations  and 
their  causes,  it  may  occur  to  some,  that  one  source  of  dan 
ger  is  the  escaping  gas  becoming  a  conductor  of  electrici 
ty  during  thunder-storms,  as  the  exhalations  arising  from 
trees  and  barns  filled  with  grain  are  known  to  be.  Nu 
merous  inquiries,  however,  have  led  me  to  believe  that 
the  gas  from  wells  does  not  act  as  a  conductor,  as  no  fire 
is^known  to  have  thus  originated.  Otherwise  it  would 
hardly  seem  possible  to  escape  a  sweeping  calamity  nearly 
every  week  during  the  summer  season. 

But  whether  or  not  delays  or  disasters  be  experienced 
from  flood  or  flame,  the  lack  of  fuel,  defects  in  engines, 
disorganization  in  labor,  obstructions  in  the  wells  or  the 
tubes,  the  chilling  blasts  of  winter,  or  the  descent  of  sur 
face-water,  it  is  an  established  fact,  that  the  springs  them 
selves  decay  and  finally  cease  to  yield  petroleum  in  pay 
ing  quantities.  They  may  be  nursed,  and  humored,  and 
coaxed,  and  petted,  until  it  would  seem  that  every  imagin 
able  whim  was  gratified.  But  no  mechanical  or  chemical 
application  can  easily  extract  sunbeams  from  cucumbers, 
or  oil  from  an  empty  well.  For  that  the  real  trouble  with 


Obstacles  in  the  Way,  etc.  Ill 

most  of  the  abandoned  concerns  is  exhaustion,  does  not 
admit  of  a  doubt,  all  the  asseverations  of  owners,  mana 
gers,  agents,  mercenary  writers,  etc.,  to  the  contrary  notwith 
standing.  The  period  after  which  tired  Nature  will  say 
"  Enough,"  and  refuse  to  contribute  another  quart,  may 
last  three  months  or  three  years ;  but  it  will  assuredly 
come  to  an  end.  It  may  be  prolonged  for  a  time  by 
various  schemes  and  appliances  ;  but  animal  life  does  not 
more  certainly,  in  the  long  run,  yield  obedience  to  the 
natural  law  of  decline,  decay,  and  dissolution,  than  must 
the  oil-spring.  For  nearly  four  years,  the  Economy  wells 
have  resisted  the  fate  which  befell  all  others  of  the  same 
age  ;  but  even  they  are  producing  much  less  than  they  did 
in  1861,  and  one  has  become  quite  feeble.  The  others,  in 
time,  will  certainly  follow,  especially  if  numbers  of  new 
works  are  to  be  put  into  operation  close  by.  Let  all  who 
mean  to  invest  their  money  in  oil  stocks  u  stick  a  pin 
there." 


CHAPTEK    VI. 

STATISTICS  OF  PRODUCTION". 

HAVING  described  the  physical  features  of  Petrolia,  its 
present  appearance,  "the  manners  and  customs"  of  its  in 
habitants,  the  mode  of  drilling  wells,  and  the  obstacles  to 
be  overcome  afterward,  the  next  point  in  order,  and  that  for 
which  this  little  volume  will  be  most  eagerly  perused  by 
many,  is  to  give  statistics  of  the  present  and  past  produc 
tions  of  the  wells,  as  ascertained  by  careful  inquiry  upon 
personal  examination.  The  collecting  of  these  consumed 
fully  three  weeks.  Sometimes  a  mile  or  two  constituted 
the  length  of  my  cord  for  a  whole  day.  I  made  it  a  point 
to  visit  every  well  in  operation,  and  to  compare  the  yield 
reported  by  workmen  with  that  given  by  officers  and 
neighbors,  examining  the  discharge,  and  suggesting  doubts 
or  inquiries,  as  the  case  might  be.  In  order  to  get  the 
whole  truth,  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to  inform  the  men 
that  I  was  not  a  government  agent ;  at  other  times,  to 
probe  statements  very  closely  and  take  additional  testi 
mony.  By  the  use  of  methods  best  known  to  a  newspa 
per  expert,  I  think  I  arrived  as  near  the  truth  as  it  was 
possible  for  a  stranger  to  do  in  any  thing  like  a  reasonable 
time.  As  to  fidelity  in  reporting,  I  am  not  conscious  of 
having  misrepresented  a  fact,  a  figure,  an  impression,  or 


Statistics  of  Production.  113 

even  having  colored  it  in  the  slightest  degree,  with  a  view 
to  benefiting  or  running  down  any  person  or  interest. 
Opportunities  and  even  tempting  offers  to  assist  in  find 
ing  purchasers  for  wells  were  not  wanting,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  motive  in  rejecting  them.  It  was  with  a 
deep  conviction  on  my  mind  that  the  subject  had  never 
been  investigated  as  it  ought  to  be  ;^  that  the  hard  financial 
and  industrial  facts  had  not  been  collected  by  laborious, 
judicious,  conscientious  men,  with  a  view  to  publication, 
that  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  take  hold  of  it,  in  spite  of  physical 
obstacles  and  the  predictions  of  many  who  pronounced 
the  undertaking  an  impossibility. 

In  order  to  present  the  greatest  amount  of  matter  in  the 
least  space,  and  in  something  like  a  systematic  form,  I 
have  divided  the  country  into  sections  or  farms,  lying 
contiguous  to  each  other,  and  having  points  of  resem 
blance.  The  first  of  these  is  the  well-known 

WATSON  FLATS. 

These  consist  of  several  hundred  acres  of  low  and  nearly 
level  land,  lying  between  or  on  each  side  of  the  two  prin 
cipal  branches  of  Oil  Creek.  It  .has  some  appearance  of 
having  been  at  one  time  the  bottom  of  a  lake,  before  the 
creek,  lower  down,  reached  its  present  depth.  At  some 
points  on  it,  as  well  as  further  down  the  creek,  pits  were 
found,  from  five  to  eight  feet  in  diameter,  and  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  feet  deep,  their  sides  protected  by  "  wooden 
walls,"  which  had  been  carefully  joined.  The  fact  that  trees, 
several  feet  in  diameter,  have  been  found  growing  imme 
diately  above  those  pits,  proves  that  they  must  have  been 
sunk  before  the  white  race  made  their  appearance ;  and 
the  inference  is  that  the  western  mound-builders  operated 


114  /Statistics  of  Production. 

in  Petrolia  perhaps  thousands  of  years  since.  It  is  said 
that  the  Cornplanter  Indians  have  still  traditions  to  that 
effect. 

The  wells  on  that  flat  have  some  characteristics  in  com 
mon.  None  of  them  yield  oil  by  flowing.  The  produc 
tion  of  the  most  profitable  does  not  exceed  sixty  barrels 
per  day.  On  the  other  hand,  very  few  wells  have  been 
sunk  in  that  locality  that  did  not  pay  expenses.  It  is  be 
lieved  there  has  not  been  one  that  did  not  contribute  more 
or  less.  This  "territory"  may,  therefore,  be  set  down  as 
perhaps  the  safest  in  all  Petrolia,  but  the  one  offering  few 
est  rewards  in  the  shape  of  rare  and  dazzling  prizes.  Deep 
well,  sunk  to  more  than  twelve  hundred  feet  and  still  in 
progress,  is  on  this  tract. 

The  present  yield  of  the  active  wells  there  may  be  set 
down  as  between  the  figures  underneath,  both  having  been 
given  by  persons  on  the  ground,  and  one  (the  lower)  by 
those  who  professed  to  know,  and  I  believe  did  know,  of 
what  they  affirmed. 

U.  S.  Or  ant  Well. — Sunk  four  hundred  and  sixty  feet. 
Engine  driven  by  gas  from  the  well.  Discharges  a  con 
stant  stream  of  oil  and  water,  but  increasing  and  decreas 
ing  every  few  seconds.  Yields  from  thirty -five  to  forty- 
five  barrels  every  twenty-four  hours ;  probable  average, 
not  far  from  forty. 

Ingersoll  Well. — Owned  by  New- York  and  Oil  Creek 
Petroleum  Company.  Believed  to  be  the  best  on  the  flat- 
Pumps  a  steady  stream  of  between  fifty  and  sixty  barrels 
daily.  Had  been  yielding  only  three  weeks  at  time  of 
visit.  They  pumped  all  winter,  and  got  nothing  but  water 
for  months.  Has  yielded  as  much  as  seventy  barrels  a 
day.  Depth,  four  hundred  and  fifty-eight  feet. 


Statistics  of  Production.  115 

Old  Abe  Well. — "Was  opened  in  April  last,  a  week  be 
fore  visit.  Yields  thirty  barrels  every  twenty-four  hours. 
Depth,  two  hundred  and  sixty  feet. 

Kellogg  Well. — Yields*  from  ten  to  fifteen  barrels  per  day. 
Depth,  four  hundred  and  sixty-two  feet.  Was  opened  last 
February.  Discharges  by  fits  and  starts  only. 

Continental  Well. — Has  broken  down  two  or  three  times 
lately.  Was  idle,  when  visited,  being  re-tubed.  Famous 
in  the  past. 

Kate  Well. — Was  once  the  best  on  this  flat ;  now  gives 
little  except  water.  Tools  fast  in  the  bottom,  which  is  as 
signed  as  the  probable  cause  of  failure.  Lay  idle  from 
August  till  lately. 

Nellie  Binninger  Well. — Has  been  in  operation  about 
three  months.  Very  irregular  in  yield,  which  ranges  from 
one  to  fifteen  barrels  per  day. 

New  Well. — Owned  by  Pennsylvania  Oil  Creek  Com 
pany.  Prospects,  when  finished,  considered  good. 

Watson  and  Childs's  Well. — Is  old,  but  recently  renovat 
ed.  iTsed  to  flow  sixty  barrels  per  day.  Has  been  idle 
for  nearly  three  years.  Cannot  yet  say  what  she  is  likely 
to  do. 

Baker  Well. — Yields  about  twenty-two  barrels  per  day. 
At  one  time,  gave  as  much  as  forty,  and  four  years  ago 
flowed  one  hundred  and  sixty  barrels  daily.  Uses  her 
own  gas  for  fuel. 

Ostrom  Well. — Four  years  old.  Yields  about  thirty  bar 
rels  per  day.  Depth,  four  hundred  and  twenty  feet. 

Elliott's  Well. — Was  yieldiog  forty  barrels  daily  till  the 
spring  freshet,  which  damaged  the  works  and  suspended 
operations  till  visit. 

Dunn  Well. — Average  yield  given  at  forty  barrels  per 


116  Statistics  of  Production. 

day  for  four  weeks.  Little  discharge  of  oil  when  visited, 
it  being  late  in  the  day.  Has  regular  pulsations  or  tides, 
discharging  oil  freely  in  the  forenoon  and  slacking  up 
afterward. 

MEM. — On  the  Kingsland  flat,  immediately  below  Wat 
son  flat,  are  perhaps  a  dozen  derricks,  new  and  old ;  one 
of  these  standing  over  the  famous  well  sunk  by  Colonel 
Drake  in  1859.  No  active  operations  are  visible  on  any 
portion  of  that  property. 

Dean  and  Firitts  Well — Belongs  to  the  Bunker  Hill  Oil 
Company.  Average  yield,  twelve  barrels  per  day.  Depth, 
five  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  Doing  nothing  the  day  of 
visit.  Opened  last  October. 

Funk  Well. — Belongs  to  owner  of  that  name.  Yields 
ten  to  twelve  barrels  per  day.  Opened  last  autumn. 

May  Queen  Well. — Belongs  to  same  proprietor,  and  gives 
from  seven  to  ten  barrels  daily.  Was  also  put  down  last 
fall,  the  work  done  in  twenty-five  days,  to  about  the  usual 
depth.  Believed  to  be  "  the  quickest  time  on  record." 

MEM. — A  lot  of  forty  by  two  hundred  feet,  close  by, 
has  changed  hands  for  the  sum  of  three  thousand  dollars ; 
purchaser  to  take  his  chance.  No  wells  on  property,  and 
no  royalty  on  oil,  if  any  reached.  Is  about  one  mile  from 
Titusville,  and  near  margin  of  the  "  oil-diggings."  Learn 
also  that  thirty-seven  acres,  at  a  short  distance,  were  lately 
sold  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  fee 
simple,  the  agent  of  an  Eastern  company  having  paid  down 
ten  thousand  dollars  as  earnest.  Would  be  glad  he  had  the 
"eighteen  pence  within  his  purse"  again;  but  seller  re 
fuses  to  give  it  up.  A  well  in  that  neighborhood,  repre 
sented  as  giving  fifteen  barrels  per  day,  sold  last  winter 
for  forty-five  thousand  dollars.  It  is  not  paying  expenses 


Statistics  of  Production.  117 

to-day,  and  at  the  time  of  sale  did  not  give  thirty  per  cent 
of  the  quantity  stated ! 

Eincldey  Well. — Was  never  properly  tested,  (a  suspicious 
phrase.)  Pumped  thirteen  barrels  oil  one  day  some  time 
since.  Eepairing  the  machinery,  and  mean  to  deepen  the 
well.  Depth,  four  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  Used  a  blow 
er,  which  has  been  taken  out  as  unserviceable.  Belongs 
to  the  Titus  estate. 

Burtiss  Well. — Yielded  seven  to  eight  barrels  per  day 
last  year.  Idle  in  winter,  but  starting  again.  Said  to  be 
"  good  show,"  and  there  is  certainly  water.  Depth,  four 
hundred  and  eighty-five  feet. 

Cap  Well,  or  No.  Seven  Parker  Petroleum  Company,  has 
not  been  running  steadily  for  some  time.  They  are  pump 
ing  and  expect  to  get  oil.  Depth,  six  hundred  and  four 
teen  feet. 

Eckhart  Well — Just  starting.  A  little  oil  on  the  brine, 
though  barely  one  barrel  per  day.  Depth,  six  hundred 
and  thirteen  feet. 

Palmer  Well. — Has  been  lying  still  for  some  time.  Gave 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  barrels  per  day  formerly.  Making 
preparations  to  resume  work.  Depth,  two  hundred  and 
forty  feet.  The  Keystone,  close  by,  same  tale  as  Palmer. 

Utica  Rock-  Oil  Company's  Well,  JVb.  Thirty-nine. — Open 
ed  a  few  days  before  visit.  In  two  days  gave  twenty-eight 
barrels,  and  yield  increasing.  Depth,  four  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  feet. 

Well  No.  Three. — Old  concern  reopening.  In  three 
weeks  gave  two  or  three  barrels.  Depth,  six  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  They  say  the  tubing  is  out  of  order.  These 
wells  are  the  highest  up  on  the  east  branch  of  Oil  Creek 


118  Statistics  of  Production. 

of  works  in  actual  operation.     Distance  from  Titusville, 
one  and  a  half  miles. 

Tripler  Well — About  four  years  old.  Gives  twelve  bar 
rels  per  day.  Depth,  about  five  hundred  feet. 

Old  Hiiikle  Well. — Flowed  one  hundred  barrels  per  day 
at  first.  Subsequently  abandoned.  "Was  pumped  some 
weeks,  at  one  time  giving  one  hundred  and  twenty -nine 
barrels  in  three  days.  Owners  did  not  consider  this  pro 
fitable,  with  petroleum  at  twenty -five  cents  per  barrel,  and 
allowed  well  to  rest.  Preparing  to  pump  it  once  more. 

Glendale  Oil  Company's  Well. — Averages  about  three 
and  a  half  barrels  per  day.  Goes  by  fits  and  starts  only. 
Not  properly  tested  since  deepening. 

Binninyer  and  Sanger  Wells. — One  is  not  pumped.  Other 
is  six  hundred  feet,  and  newly  tested.  Gives  between 
twenty  and  thirty  barrels  per  day,  on  average.  An  out 
side  account  says  between  twelve  and  fifteen. 

iShermouth  Well. —  Old  and  abandoned.  At  one  time 
good  for  forty  to  fifty  barrels  per  day.  Sold  to  new  com 
pany,  late  owners  guaranteeing  an  average  yield  of  thirty 
barrels. 

No.  Two  Parker  Well. — Pumps  about  four  barrels  in  ten 
hours.  Two  years  old.  Depth,  five  hundred  feet. 

Abbott  Wells. — Two  in  number.  Pumping  small  quan 
tities  of  oil,  but  the  exact  quantity  could  not  be  ascer 
tained. 

Above  is  a  list  of  all  the  wells  in  actual  operation,  or 
having  been  such  within  a  few  days  of  my  visit.  The 
number  of  idle  or  abandoned  works  I  estimate  at  fifty, 
within  two  miles  of  Titusville ;  but  in  a  goodly  number 
of  these  preparations  are  in  progress  for  resuming  opera 
tions.  The  effects  of  the  freshet  are  still  painfully  visi- 


Statistics  of  Production.  119 

ble.  The  number  of  new  derricks  within  the  same  dis 
tance  is  fully  one  hundred  —  perhaps  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  ;  but  at  a  considerable  number  of  these  there 
are  no  signs  of  activity. 

After  sinking  to  the  depth  of  four  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  on  the  "Watson  flats,  without  finding  oil,  I  have  very 
little  faith  in  further  deepening.  Most  of  the  experiments 
made  in  that  direction  have  been  unsuccessful,  and  none 
have  amounted  to  much. 

Wells  on  the  west  side  of  the  principal  fork,  on  the 
whole,  pay  better  than  those  on  the  opposite  side.  The 
ones  given  at  the  head  of  this  list  are  all  on  the  west  side. 
I  allude  to  this  only  to  dispel  an  error  prevalent  in  some 
quarters,  that  the  east  side  of  all  streams  is  more  produc 
tive  than  the  west — a  vagary  refuted  by  understanding 
the  physical  formation  of  the  country.  Wells  along  the 
base  of  the  heights  north-east  of  Titusville  pay  mode 
rately,  their  average  being  from  eight  to  ten  barrels  per 
day.  On  the  opposite  slope  they  have  not  yet  advanced 
sufiiciently  near  completion  to  afford  information  as  to  the 
extent  of  the  oil-field  in  that  direction.  Slopes,  as  such, 
have  no  necessary  connection  with  oil-bearing  rocks. 

For  nearly  four  miles  below  the  Watson  flats  little  prog 
ress  has  recently  been  made,  the  few  wells  sunk  here  and 
there  appearing  to  have  been  unprofitable.  Still,  other 
persons  are  about  to  make  fresh  experiments,  and  a  num 
ber  of  new  wells  are  going  down.  The  next  point  of  in- 
terest  is 

MILLER'S  FAEM, 

six  miles  below  Titusville,  with  a  railroad  station  and  a 
bridge  across  the  creek.  Below  is  a  list  of  the  productive 
wells : 


120  Statistics  of  Production. 

New-England  Well. —  Belongs  to  company  of  same 
name.  Opened  about  five  months  ago.  Yields  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  barrels  per  day.  Average  well  up 
to  thirty.  Was  the  only  one  then  in  operation  at  time 
of  visit,  the  others  undergoing  repairs.  Is  on  east  side  of 
the  creek. 

Hemlock  Well. — Is  on  west  side.  Pumped  about  eight 
barrels  per  day  through  winter ;  but  it  and  the  Kerosene 
were  undergoing  repairs.  Hemlock  had  been  going 
about  one  year.  Kerosene  yielded  about  twelve  barrels 
per  day. 

There  are  a  few  other  old  wells  on  this  farm,  chiefly  on 
the  east  side ;  but  all  appear  to  have  given  out.  About 
ten  new  derricks  erected,  at  half  of  which  work  is  actu 
ally  going  on.  A  small  refinery  at  the  station. 

At  Shaffer's,  the  railroad  terminus,  out  of  a  dozen  old 
works  close  by  there  was  not  one  yielding  oil  at  the  time 
of  visit.  Great  expectations  from  some  new  ones  on  op 
posite  side  of  the  creek.  Number  of  old  and  idle  wells 
from  Watson  flats  to  this  place,  probably  fifty,  with  near 
ly  as  many  new  ones  in  progress.  Much  activity  at  Shaf 
fer's  in  unloading  oil  from  the  boats,  and  shipping  mer 
chandise  from  the  railroad.  An  "excellent  show"  of 
portable  engines — say  a  quarter  of  an  acre  at  least. 

For  the  next  mile  and  a  half  a  masterly  inactivity  pre 
vails  along  the  widening  bottom.  On  that  space,  I  think, 
are  one  hundred  idle  derricks.  Disinterested  men  pro 
nounce  the  "territory  dry  ;"  and  the  solitude  of  the  scene 
cannot  be  explained  by  freshet  or  other  temporary  break 
down.  At  length  we  find,  on 


Statistics  of  Production.  121 

THE    FOSTER  FARM, 

Vcmita  Well,  No.  Two.— Belongs  to  the  Indian  Oil 
Company  of  Philadelphia.  Flowed  about  three  hundred 
barrels  per  day,  after  opening,  last  fall ;  but  has  since 
fallen  off  to  about  four  barrels. 

Porter  Well. — Belongs  to  same  interest.  Flowed  from 
May  till  September,  1864,  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  barrels  per  day.  In  November  the  pump  was  ap 
plied,  and  well  now  yields  about  ten  barrels,  supplying 
gas  to  run  the  engine. 

Zinc  Well. — Belongs  to  Irwin  Oil  Company  of  Phila 
delphia.  Yields  no  oil  worth  mentioning.  Workmen  ex 
pect  it  to  produce  after  exhausting  the  salt  water.  Began 
operations,  after  lying  idle,  a  short  time  since. 

THE   MoELHENNY  FARMS. 

Some  of  the  most  famous  wells  in  the  oil  region  were 
struck,  in  1861,  about  two  miles  below  Shaffer's,  on  or 
near  the  McElhenny  farms.  The  flats  there  have  expand 
ed  to  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  width,  and 
are  forested  with  old  and  new  derricks.  The  principal 
works  are  (or  were)  the  following : 

Noble  and  Delamater  Well. — Is  on  the  east  side. 
Opened  in  1862.  Flowed  from  eighteen  hundred  to  two 
thousand  barrels  per  day  for  six  months,  when  it  began  to 
fall  off.  In  spite  of  low  prices,  partly  caused  by  its  suc 
cess,  made  its  owners  (two  poor  men)  millionaires.  About 
the  middle  of  last  winter  ceased  to  flow,  when  a  blower 
was  put  in.  The  trial  resulted  in  a  total  yield  of  about 
twenty -five  barrels.  Had  been  idle  for  some  time  before 
visit.  No  symptoms  of  renewed  activity. 
6 


122  Statistics  of  Production. 

McKinney  Well. — Same  side  of  the  creek.  Yielded 
about  fifty  barrels  a  day  by  pumping,  a  short  time  ago, 
but  broke  down  for  a  time.  Gives  at  present  about  thirty 
barrels. 

Craft  Well. — On  Bull  Kun,  entering  creek  on  east 
side.  Opened  about  the  first  of  April,  but  a  "  fool  "  of 
the  right  kind,  as  it  flows  two  hundred  barrels  per  day, 
according  to  owners'  estimate ;  and  I  think  the  yield  well 
up  to  that  figure.  No  falling  off  at  time  of  visit.  A 
steady  stream  from  the  tube,  with  little  fuss  and  fury. 

Railroad  or  Boughton  Well. — On  same  stream.  At 
first  pumped  seventy-five  barrels  per  day.  Last  Novem 
ber,  valves  got  out  of  order,  and  well  has  not  since  been 
in  operation.  "Workmen  very  costive  in  regard  to  infor 
mation.  One  was  quite  rude.  A  decidedly  unfavora 
ble  impression  about  the  concern. 

Caldwell  Well. — Just  testing.  Fair  prospects  of  suc 
cess.  Is  situated  above  and  close  by  the  Noble  well. 

Caldwell  Well,  No.  Four.— Lately  tested.  Tools  fast 
in  bottom.  Prospect  indifferent.  Another  well  on  lot 
No.  Five.  Opened  two  weeks  and  pumping  water. 

Irwin  Well. — On  west  side.  Pumping  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  barrels  per  day. 

Crocker  Well. — Noted  old  concern  in  its  day ;  but  has 
yielded  little  except  water  the  past  winter.  A  dispute 
with  neighboring  proprietor,  who  had  tapped  the  same 
vein.  Late  Crocker  owners  say  they  offered  fair  terms, 
which  other  party  rejected.  They  then  withdrew  their 
tubes,  when,  presto !  the  rival  was  obliged  to  purchase 
Crocker  or  go  without  any  thing.  A  controversy  not 
uncommon  in  Petrolia. 

Lon  Well. — Near  old  Sherman.     Just  testing  at  time 


Statistics  of  Production.  123 

of  visit,  and  good  for  ten  to  fifteen  barrels,  it  was  said,  per 
day.  <? 

Sherman  Well. — One  of  the  historical  landmarks  of 
the  oil  regions.  "Was  one  of  those  which  inaugurated 
the  revolution  of  1861,  causing  scores  of  wells  to  be 
abandoned,  through  reduction  in  price.  First  yield,  fif 
teen  -hundred  barrels  per  day,  by  flowing ;  then  fell  off  to 
six  hundred ;  dropped  down  to  one  hundred ;  and  finally 
stopped  altogether  last  fall.  Tried  the  pump  for  a  time  ; 
but  again  became  unproductive.  Next,  the  proprietor 
put  in  a  blower,  which  brought  up  an  average  yield  of 
fifty  barrels  per  day,  sometimes  sixty  barrels.  An  out 
sider,  who  pretends  to  know,  reports  the  amount  at  forty 
barrels.  Mr.  Sherman  was  originally  a  poor,  but  very 
energetic  man.  He  is  still  energetic,  but  not  poor.  Had 
to  borrow  means  enough  to  finish  the  drilling ;  is  now 
one  of  the  magnates  of  that  country. 

Fertig  Well. — Started  with  sixty  barrels  per  day,  which 
gradually  receded  to  ten,  and  then  recovered  somewhat. 
Now  ranges  between  ten  and  twenty  barrels,  the  average 
being  probably  fifteen.  Is  nearly  two  years  old.  Great 
est  decline  during  the  cold  weather,  on  the  approach  of 
which  yield  fell  off  one-half. 

MEM. — The  proportion  of  productive  wells  on  this 
farm  and  for  some  distance  below,  (say  one  mile  beyond 
the  Sherman  well,)  does  not  exceed  one  to  every  seven  or 
eight  of  the  whole  number  sunk.  In  some  cases  they  are 
endeavoring  to  resuscitate  the  idle  concerns.  At  one 
place  counted  more  than  twenty  derricks,  the  machinery 
all  standing  still.  Beyond  those  were  ten  or  twelve  be 
longing  to  a  Baltimore  company,  having  been  idle  for 
some  months  ;  but  a  portion  of  them  would  probably  be 


124:  Statistics  of  Production. 

tried  anew  before  long.     Continuing  the  journey  down 
ward,  the  next  productive  work  is  the 

Buckeye  Well. — Yields  from  eight  to  ten  barrels  per 
day.  Has  just  been  tested  anew,  after  being  renovated. 
Put  down  about  two  and  a  half  years  ago.  Depth,  five 
hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

Briggs  WeZfo.— -Four  in  number — the  Briggs,  Sabine, 
Forest  City,  and  Cayuga.  First-named  does  not  pump 
steadily.  Betimes  gives  nothing,  betimes  as  much  as 
seventy  barrels  per  day.  Ordinarily  ranges  from  twenty 
to  twenty -five.  Forest  City  yields  about  forty-five  bar 
rels  per  day.  Was  opened  in  1863,  when  flowed  one 
hundred  and  fifty  barrels.  Proprietors  thought  that  was 
"not  much  of  a  shower,"  and  let  it  go  to  the  creek. 
Started  again  after  oil  had  risen  in  price.  Cayuga  yields 
about  eight  barrels.  Last  summer  gave  thirty,  but  fell 
off  in  winter.  Sabine  in  operation  about  two  months,  and 
when  visited  gave  thirty-five  barrels  per  day.  All  these 
wells  are  pumped. 

Huyde  Koper  Well. — Uses  both  a  pump  and  a  blower, 
which  bring  up  forty  barrels  per  day.  Has  been  in  ope 
ration  two  or  three  years.  Depth,  four  hundred  and 
sixty  feet. 

Mount  Vernon  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Four  in  num 
ber.  Two  are  doing  little  or  nothing.  One  is  said  to 
average  forty  barrels  per  day.  The  other  somewhat  out 
of  order  and  not  going  at  the  time. 

THE  FUNK  AND  BOYD  FARMS. 

Village  named  Funkville,  and  already  described.  For 
mer  owner,  one  "  Captain"  Funk,  who  died  recently  one 
of  the  princes  of  Petrolia.  The  first  flowing  well  ever 


Statistics  of  Production.  125 

struck  was  on  this  property :  and  one  of  the  most  famous 
in  the  country  is  still  productive,  namely,  the 

Empire  Well,  No.  One.  —  Sunk  in  the  summer  of 
1861 ;  and  for  a  time  flowed  over  two  thousand  barrels 
per  day,  the  yield  gradually  declining,  and  then  dying 
out.  Last  year  a  blower  was  put  in  with  moderate  suc 
cess  ;  but  with  the  pump  has  done  better.  On  some  days 
yields  nearly  one  hundred  barrels  ;  but  the  average  is 
between  sixty  and  seventy.  Flow  steady. 

Empire  No.  Two. — Idle,  her  tools  having  stuck  fast. 
Never  did  any  thing.  No.  Three  is  about  eighteen 
months  old,  and  yields  fifteen  barrels  daily,  with  no  fall 
ing  off  perceptible.  At  first  was  a  flowing  well. 

Oceanic  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Four  in  number.  No. 
Three  was  testing  with  good  prospects  at  time  of  visit. 
The  others  were  not  going. 

Jenkins  Well.  —  Has  been  flowing  for  two  months. 
Average  yield  given  at  one  hundred  barrels  per  day,  with 
no  reports  outside  to  the  contrary. 

Buckeye  Well. — Eanges  from  twenty  to  forty  barrels 
per  day,  with  an  average  yield  of  nearly  thirty.  Flowed 
at  one  time  six  hundred  barrels  daily,  sending  up  a  col 
umn  of  oil,  when  struck,  described  as  being  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  high.  Now  pumping. 

HMard  Well  No.  Two. — Used  to  flow  over  one  hun 
dred  barrels  per  day.  Now  pumps  about  twenty.  Two 
years  old.  Depth,  four  hundred  and  eighty  feet. 

T n  Well. — Pumps  about  sixty-five  barrels.     Uses 

its  own  gas  as  fuel.  Been  in  operation  about  two  months. 
One-half  interest  belongs  to  Oceanic  Oil  Company ;  the 
rest  to  Mr.  Sherman.  (N.  B. — The  name  is  blotted  in  my 
note-book.) 


126  Statistics  of  Production. 

Hatch  Wells.  —  Both  idle,  but  preparing  to  resume 
work.  One  ordinarily  yields  about  fifty  barrels  per  day, 
and  is  now  flowing  nearly  that  quantity.  Have  set  it 
down  as  good  for  forty.  Another  gives  only  two  or  three 
barrels  oil,  but  gas  enough  to  supply  eight  engines. 

Hadding  No.  Two  Well. — Has  been  in  operation  three 
years.  Does  not  go  steadily.  When  in  order,  yields 
twenty  barrels  per  day.  Estimate  its  average  at  ten  to 
twelve. 

American  Well. — Has  been  in  operation  only  a  few 
weeks.  Average  yield  reported  at  thirty  barrels  per  day. 
Water  not  yet  exhausted. 

Densmore  Well  No.  Eleven,. —  New  pumping  well. 
Yield  uncertain ;  but  supposed  to  be  sixty  barrels  a  day. 

Well  No.  Five. — Also  new  and  pumping.  Yield  rated 
at  seventy-five  barrels  per  day.  Two  other  wells  doing 
nothing.  Belong  to  same  interest  as  last. 

Olmstead  Wells. — No.  Three  produces,  by  pumping, 
fifty-five  barrels  per  day.  Is  eighteen  months  old.  No. 
One  has  been  flowing  at  rate  of  seventy-five  barrels  for 
a  day  or  two.  No.  Four  pumps  about  seventy  barrels 
daily.  No.  Two  has  been  idle  some  years. 

MEM. — Very  few  wells  on  this  flat  reach  to  what  is 
called  "  the  third  sand-rock,"  their  average  depth  being 
between  four  hundred  and  fifty  and  four  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet. 

On  the  Boyd  farm  counted  about  forty  derricks,  nearly 
all  idle.  Most  of  them  on  east  side  of  creek.  A  few  were 
approaching  completion.  On  the  whole,  this  farm,  like 
the  lower  portion  of  the  Funk  flat,  has  not  been  very 
productive.  Fire  broke  out  during  the  winter,  and  did 
serious  damage.  Near  the  lower  end  are — 


Statistics  of  Production.  127 

Wood  and  Wright's  Well. — Pumping  about  three  bar 
rels  per  day,  when  in  operation,  but  now  idle ;  also  a  well, 
said  to  belong  to  Wood  &  Company,  and  reported  to 
pump,  "  by  head,"  seven  or  eight  barrels. 

BENNEHOOF  RUN 

is  the  name  of  a  streamlet,  perhaps  ten  miles  long,  dis 
charging  into  Oil  Creek  from  the  west.  It  has  lately  ob 
tained  some  celebrity  from  a  flowing  well  struck  on  it  and 
named — 

Lady  Herman  Well. — Belongs  to  a  man  named  Her 
man,  who  had  the  good  sense  to  name  it  after  his  wife — 
so  it  is  said.  Average  yield,  between  sixty  and  seventy 
barrels  per  day.  Oil  struck  about  two  months  since. 

Mowbray  Well. — Old  and  abandoned  for  a  tune. 
Cleaning  out  and  testing  anew.  Used  to  be  a  flowing 
well.  New  owner  at  work. 

Old  Warren  Well,  JVo.  Two. — When  in  operation,  yields 
about  ten  barrels  per  day.  Been  re-tubed  and  is  testing. 

MEM. — At  different  times  numbers  of  wells  have  been 
sunk  on  this  run.  Mostly  now  idle.  Number  of  old 
works,  about  fifteen.  At  least  as  many  new  derricks  have 
gone  up  or  are  going.  Preparations  for  a  vigorous  cam 
paign  quite  active  here. 

THE  WASH.  M'CLINTOCK  FARM,  OR  PETROLEUM  CENTRE. 

The  principal  wells  on  this  tract  are  on  the  west  side 
of  the  creek,  and  altogether  the  place  is  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  in  the  rural  districts  of  Petrolia.  Half  a  dozen 
refineries  are  on  the  farm,  and  great  activity  prevails  in 
sinking  wells,  building  houses,  etc.  Most  of  the  flat  be 
longs  to  the  Central  Petroleum  Oil  Company,  who  lease 


128  Statistics  of  Production. 

out  half-acre  lots  for  a  royalty  of  one-half  the  oil  and  a 
bonus  of  ten  thousand  dollars  in  money.  In  the  incipient 
village,  lots  twenty  by  one  hundred  feet  lease  for  one 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  all  improvements  reverting 
to  the  company  at  the  end  of  five  years ;  while  they  have 
the  right  of  entering  upon  the  premises  at  any  time,  after 
thirty  days'  notice,  to  sink  a  well.  Even  on  these  steep 
conditions  leases  have  been  sold  for  a  considerable  pre 
mium  ! 

There  is  something  unusual  in  the  formation  of  this 
bottom.  At  one  time  the  creek  made  a  wide  detour  to 
the  westward,  describing  a  horse-shoe  course  for  half  a 
mile,  and  inclosing  an  island  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
in  length.  More  recently  it  has  forsaken  that  part  of  its 
bed  altogether  and  confined  itself  to  the  eastern  and  shorter 
channel,  leaving  the  island  a  ridgy  hill,  about  seventy-five 
feet  high.  The  most  productive  wells  are  on  the  bottom, 
which  was  formerly  the  bed  of  the  creek.  That  stream  is 
crossed  by  a  substantial  bridge,  the  only  one  between 
Shaffer's  and  Oil  City.  Situated  four  miles  below  the  for 
mer  and  eight  above  the  latter,  the  carrying  trade  divides 
near  Petroleum  Centre,  going  upward  or  downward  by 
boat,  according  to  circumstances.  There  is  a  hotel  in  the 
village.  Subjoined  are  the  wells  in  operation : 

Central  Petroleum  Company '$  Well,  N~o.  One. — Has 
been  flowing  for  ten  months.  Gives  twenty  barrels  per 
day  on  the  average.  Flows  spasmodically,  stopping  alto 
gether  for  forty  minutes,  then  coughing,  and  expectorating, 
and  discharging  for  five  or  six  minutes.  These  reports 
and  eructations  increase  till  they  sound  like  the  exhausts 
of  a  steam-engine,  and  can  be  heard  for  quite  a  long  dis 
tance.  This  fit  having  spent  itself,  the  discharge  gradually 
subsides. 


Statistics  of  Production.  129 

No.  Ten  Well.  —  Belongs  to  same  company.  While 
drilling,  about  four  weeks  before  visit,  oil  spirted  forth, 
striking  the  top  of  the  derrick  and  driving  off  the  work 
men.  It  flowed  in  a  steady  and  powerful  stream  toward 
the  creek.  Many  hundred  barrels  lost  before  the  well 
could  be  tubed  and  the  product  saved.  Is  now  calm  and 
beginning  to  yield.  Depth,  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 
I  rather  guess  than  estimate  the  product  at  twenty  barrels 
per  day. 

Bluff  Well. — Belongs  to  same  company,  and  gives,  by 
pumping,  four  to  five  barrels  per  day.  For  some  time, 
flowed  from  five  hundred  to  eight  hundred  barrels  daily  ; 
but  this  gave  out  altogether. 

Coldwater  No.  Seven  Well. — Pumps  twenty  barrels  per 
day.  Occasionally  flows  a  little.  "Was  sunk  last  autumn. 
Depth,  five  hundred  and  eighty  feet. 

Coldwater  No.  Three  Well. — .Newly  opened  and  flowing 
at  the  rate  of  about  twenty  barrels  per  day.  Struck  the 
vein  of  No.  Four,  which  has  since  gone  dry  or  pumps 
only  water. 

Coldwater  Wells,  One  and  Two. — Stopped,  waiting  for 
engines.  Used  to  flow  about  twenty  barrels  per  day  each. 
No.  Five  pumps  ten  barrels  a  day.  No.  Six  in  progress. 

Central  Petroleum  Company's  Well,  No.  Two. — Pumps 
about  fifteen  barrels  daily.  No.  Three  flows  and  pumps 
about  twenty  barrels.  No.  Four  idle.  No.  Five  flows 
about  sixty  barrels.  No.  Six  suspended.  No.  Seven  pumps 
about  fifteen  barrels.  Nos.  Fight  and  Nine  in  progress. 

Fox  Well,  or  No.  Four. — Flowed  one  hundred  and  fifty 
barrels  daily  at  one  time.  ISTow  produces  about  forty. 
Keeping  up  steadily  to  that  figure.  Belongs  to  same 
interest. 


130  Statistics  of  Production. 

Swamp  Angel  Well. — About  fourteen  months  old. 
Flows  about  fifteen  barrels  per  day. 

Fowler  and  Ouster's  Wells. — Two  in  number.  Pro 
duce  about  twenty  barrels  per  day.  Leased  from  Central 
Petroleum  Company  for  half  the  product. 

At  no  other  point  on  the  creek  is  the  proportion  of  idle 
or  unprofitable  wells  smaller  than  on  this  farm.  On  the 
upper  part  of  it,  however,  a  number  were  doing  nothing 
at  the  time  of  visit ;  and  I  estimate  the  number  of  paying 
wells  at  this  moment  at  one-half  of  those  which  have  been 
put  down.  It  will  be  seen  that  of  the  productive  works, 
a  very  considerable  number  were  sunk  the  past  year.  On 
both  sides  of  the  creek  numbers  of  new  works  are  in  prog 
ress,  climbing  the  hill-sides  to  the  height  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet. 

THE   EGBERT  FARM 

lies  nearly  opposite  to  Petroleum  Centre.  It  is  some 
times  known  as  the  Hyde  and  Egbert,  having  been  owned 
by  two  persons,  the  latter  a  country  physician,  and  both 
in  moderate  circumstances.  It  is  now  the  most  pro 
ductive  portion  of  Petrolia,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
a  farm  on  Cherry  Eun.  It  is  also  near  the  geographical 
centre  of  the  Pennsylvania  oil  region.  Its  principal  well, 
and  the  most  profitable  in  the  country  at  present,  is  the — 
Coquette  Well. — "Was  opened  last  October,  when  took 
to  flowing  six  hundred  barrels  per  day.  No  actual  test  of 
its  production  has  lately  been  made.  Superintendent  re 
ports  the  last  at  five  hundred  and  twenty  barrels  per  day. 
Other  reports  place  the  actual  amount  at  four  hundred 
to  four  hundred  and  fifty  barrels.  "Well  has  a  long 
double  range  of  tanks,  whose  aggregate  capacity  is  fifteen 


Statistics  of  Production.  131 

thousand  barrels,  and  connecting,  by  a  set  of  pipes,  with 
the  creek,  so  that  boats  can  be  loaded  in  bulk.  The  dis 
charges  of  this  spring  occur  in  regular  successions  of  puffs 
and  jets,  noticed  elsewhere ;  the  series  repeated  five  or  six 
times  per  minute.  About  one-seventh  of  the  interest  in 
it  recently  sold  in  Philadelphia  for  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  Property  mostly  owned  in  that 
city. 

Maple  Shade  Well.— Struck  in  August,  1863.  Flows 
about  fifty  barrels  per  day.  Gave  over  one  thousand  bar 
rels  at  one  time — in  fact,  one  of  the  glories  of  that  country. 
Is  about  nineteen  months  old.  Present  yield  reported  to 
be  keeping  steady.  One  year  ago,  was  burned  down,  to 
gether  with  ten  thousand  barrels  of  oil  and  twenty  thou 
sand  barrels  of  tankage.  Belongs  to  Maple  Shade  Oil 
Company  of  Philadelphia,  who  receive  one-sixth  of  the 
oil  produced  on  three-fourths  of  Egbert  farm,  and  five- 
twelfths  of  that  on  remaining  fourth. 

Getty  sburgh  Well. — Opened  last  autumn.  Yields  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  barrels  per  day,  with  tools  fast  in 
bottom.  Flowed  at  first  about  ten  barrels  daily.  Work 
ing  interest  leased  for  one-half  oil. 

Gimlet  Well. — Was  yielding  from  ten  to  twelve  barrels 
per  day  before  stopping  to  re-tube.  Tried  the  blower, 
but  had  to  take  it  out.  Now  applying  the  pump  to 
exhaust  water. 

A  well  in  operation  on  the  Dalzell  farm  is  said  to  give 
thirty  barrels  daily.  Further  particulars  not  ascertained. 
A  safer  figure  would  be  twenty  barrels. 

Jersey  Well. — A  famous  well,  struck  in  the  early  part 
of  last  summer.  Yielded  three  hundred  and  thirty  bar 
rels  (flowing)  for  five  months,  on  single  days  running  up 


132  Statistics  of  Production. 

to  four  hundred  barrels.  Capacity  of  tanks,  ten  thousand 
barrels.  Present  yield  supposed  to  be  between  two  hun 
dred  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  daily  ;  but  has  not 
been  tested  lately.  MEM. — If  the  yield  were  increasing, 
figures  would  be  duly  published.  Hence,  infer  that  pro 
duction  is  below  two  hundred  barrels.  P.  S. — I  have 
since  learned  that  the  Jersey  well  gave  out  in  May,  the 
spring  having  been  tapped  by  another  well. 

Keystone  Well,  No.  One. — A  good  well  at  onetime,  but 
now  idle. 

Kepler  Well. — Flowed  largely  for  a  time.  Now  pumps 
about  four  barrels  per  day.  One  year  old. 

THE  STORY  FARM. 

The  wells  on  this  farm  lie  chiefly  on  the  west  side  of 
the  creek.  The  upper  part  of  this,  like  the  lower  part  of 
the  Egbert,  is  rather  poor  "  territory."  In  that  section  a 
bare  quarter  of  the  works  pays  operating  expenses.  On 
the  best  part  of  the  Egbert  farm  one-half  of  the  wells  ate 
idle.  Story  farm  (five  hundred  acres)  belongs  to  the 
Columbian  Oil  Company  of  Pittsburgh,  who  have  sunk 
over  one  hundred  wells,  of  which  about  fifty  are  said  to 
have  been  profitable  concerns.  Last  year  they  put  down 
thirteen,  not  one  of  which  paid  expenses.  The  best  wells 
are  close  to  the  bluff,  at  a  considerable  distance  from 
the  creek,  and  the  bottom  is  nearly  abandoned.  The 
company  prefer  boring  on  their  own  account  to  granting 
leases ;  though  they  have  granted  some  at  a  royalty  of 
one-half.  They  have  been  one  of  the  most  successful  in 
the  valley.  They  design  to  sink  a  large  number  of  new 
wells  the  present  season ;  the  number  estimated  at  one 
hundred.  Three  refineries  on  the  farm.  The  principal 
works  are — 


Statistics  of  Production.  133 

Ram-Cat  Well. — Opened  about  fourteen  months  ago. 
Original  yield,  (by  flowing,)  three  hundred  barrels  per 
day.  Present  yield,  probably  about  sixty. 

Hubbwrd  Well. — Has  lately  yielded  four  barrels  a  day. 
Been  in  operation  three  or  four  years. 

Flora  Wells. — Owned  by  Western  Pennsylvania  Oil 
Company.  Two  of  them  give,  on  the  average,  fifty  bar 
rels  a  day.  One  produced  over  four  years,  and  another, 
eleven  months  before  stopping.  A  third  flowed  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-five  barrels  per  day  for  a  time,  and  kept 
on  producing  for  eighteen  months. 

Reynolds  Well. — Pumped  as  high  as  fifty  barrels  per 
day  for  a  time  ;  recently  gave  twenty -five ;  now  pumping 
out  water.  Two  or  three  years  old,  and  belongs  to  Oil 
Creek  and  Cherry  Eun  Company. 

Columbia  Oil  Company,  JVo.  Two,  Well. — Just  com 
mencing  to  yield. 'and  quantity  unknown.  No.  Thirty -six 
about  two  years  old ;  averages  fifty  barrels  per  day. 

Titus  Well. — Flows  ninety  barrels  per  day ;  at  one 
time  gave  one  hundred  and  fifty.  Is  eighteen  months  old. 

Perry  Well. — Has  averaged  one  hundred  barrels  per 
day  (flowing)  for  fifteen  months. 

Dorman  Well. — Eanges  from  five  to  fifteen  barrels  per 
day  by  pump.  In  operation  about  two  months.  Two 
other  wells  on  same  lot ;  one  choked  up  by  mud-slide,  the 
other  cleaned  and  tested  with  "good  show." 

Holloio  Well. — Has  given  as  high  as  one  hundred  bar 
rels  per  day.  Gave  lately  seventy-five  on  average.  Out 
of  order  and  undergoing  repairs.  » 

Hollow  Well,  JVo.  Four. — Has  been  going  about  four 
months,  and  now  yields  nearly  one  hundred  barrels  per 
day. 

Eicholtz    Well. — Going  two  or  three  years.     Ranges 


134:  Statistics  of  Production. 

from  ten  to  one  hundred  barrels  per  day.  Average  be 
lieved  to  be  from  thirty  to  thirty-five. 

Lady's  Well,  No.  Four.—^hz  only  one  of  five  wells 
on  lease  now  producing  oil.  Pumps  eighty  barrels  per 
day  regularly.  In  operation  for  a  year.  Started  at  sev 
enty-five  barrels.  In  winter,  averaged  only  twenty. 

Lady's  Well,  No.  One  or  Old  Lady's  Well. — Quite  fam 
ous  in  the  annals  of  Petrolia.  Part  of  the  extraordinary 
crop  of  1861.  Flowed  five  hundred  barrels  per  day  at 
first,  and  kept  on  yielding  till  last  August,  when  gave  out. 
Now  idle.  Might  give  one  or  two  barrels,  if  pumped. 
Last  summer,  gave  fifty  barrels  a  day,  and  stopped  in  con 
sequence  of  the  withdrawal  of  a  set  of  tubes  on  adjoining 
farm.  Mr.  Wade,  the  superintendent,  it  is  claimed,  was 
the  first  to  introduce  the  use  of  gas  in  driving  the 
machinery. 

Ryder  <&  Go's  Wells. — One  has  been  running  since 
last  August.  Yields  ten  barrels  per  day.  The  other  just 
testing,  and  result  unknown.  Nothing  but  water  as  yet. 

Gipner  Wells. — Two  in  number.  Average  yield  of 
both,  eighty-five  barrels.  One  over  twelve,  the  other 
seven  months  in  operation. 

Manor  Wells. — Also  two,  which  averaged  a  little  over 
fifty  barrels  a  day  for  past  year. 

Salem  Well. — Flowing  about  ten  barrels  a  day.  Sup 
ply  of  gas  sufficient  to  drive  two  engines.  Has  been  run 
ning  a  year,  with  no  perceptible  decrease,  whether  from 
use  of  gas  or  otherwise. 

Painter,  Nichols  <&  Co.'s  Well. — Pumping  about  ten 
barrels  per  day.  Continued  for  two  years  at  this  rate. 

Malloney  Well. — Idle  with  tools  in  bottom.  Four 
years  old.  Bated  as  a  seventy-five  barrel  well,  but  over- 
rated. 


Statistics  of  Production.  135 

Bluff  Well.  —  Complain  about  bad  luck  lately.  Has 
been  giving  from  twelve  to  fifteen  barrels  per  day  for 
about  two  months.  Bather  weak  in  the  knees  at  present. 

Lloyd  Wells. — Two  in  number,  giving  together  forty 
barrels  daily.  One  has  been  going  three  years ;  the  other, 
six  months. 

—  Well. — Re-tubing.     Flowed  at  one  time  fifty 
to  sixty  barrels  per  day.     No  reliable  statistics  lately. 

Hamburgh  Well. — Flowing  between  sixty  and  seventy 
barrels  per  day.  Gave  one  hundred  at  one  time.  Been 
nine  months  in  operation. 

Old  Say  Well. — Eetubed  and  testing.  Pumped  fifteen 
barrels  per  day  till  two  weeks  ago. 

THE   TAER  FAEM 

has  yielded  more  oil  than  any  other  in  Petrolia,  or  per 
haps  in  the  world.  A  brief  notice  of  the  career  of  its  late 
owner  will  not  be  amiss  here.  "  Previous  to  the  petro 
leum  excitement,"  writes  the  correspondent  of  the  London 
Morning  Post;  "  the  owner  (Mr.  Tarr)  was  in  great  straits, 
his  business  of  rafting  lumber,  in  addition  to  the  cultiva 
tion  of  his  miserable  acres,  scarcely  yielding  enough  to 
support  himself  and  family  in  the  humble  way  in  which 
they  lived.  .  .  But  the  oil  adventurers  came  along, 
and  secured  a  right  to  bore,  giving  half  the  oil  to  the  land 
owner.  The  result  was  that  the  Philips  well  struck  oil, 
and  yielded  over  two  thousand  barrels  daily,  which,  even 
at  the  moderate  price  then  current,  yielded  a  magnificent 
revenue  to  the  owners  and  also  to  Tarr.  Other  wells  were 
sunk  and  met  with  great  success,  so  that  the  poor  lumber 
man  and  farmer  speedily  grew  rich.  In  August,  1863, 
when  the  price  of  petroleum  ruled  low,  Tarr  sold  half  the 


136  Statistics  of  Production. 

interest  of  his  farm  for  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
dollars  cash,  and  retired  to  a  handsome  residence  in  the 
adjoining  county.  But  fortune  will  not  let  her  favorites 
alone.  The  remaining  interest  in  his  land  and  wells  in 
creased  in  value  until  his  daily  income  was  counted  by 
thousands  of  dollars.  During  the  month  of  December  just 
passed,  he  closed  out  his  remaining  interest  on  the  creek 
for  two  million  dollars,  at  which  price  he  considered  him 
self  throwing  the  property  away.  Uneducated  himself, 
this  oil-prince  is  spending  money  lavishly  on  the  education 
of  his  family ;  and  some  amusing  but  rather  doubtful  sto 
ries  are  told  of  his  estimation  of  the  power  of  money  in 
matters  of  education."  The  estate  is  owned  by  the  Tarr 
Farm  Petroleum  Company. 

The  "  developed"  portion  of  this  property  lies  on  the 
east  side  of  the  creek,  a  village  of  about  fifty  houses  and 
huts  resting  on  the  shoulder  of  the  hill.  In  some  places, 
the  bottom  is  so  thickly  covered  with  derricks,  etc.,  that 
it  hardly  seems  possible  to  crowd  in  another.  Tanks  are 
standing  together  by  the  acre  along  the  -margin  of  the 
creek. 

Old  Philips  Well.— One  of  the  oldest  on  the  creek, 
having  been  opened  in  the  early  part  of  1861.  Yield  by 
flowing  at  first  very  large  ;  one  account  says  fifteen  hun 
dred  barrels  per  day.  Declined  gradually,  and  at  last  gave 
out  altogether,  when  applied  the  pump.  "Well  now  gives 
about  twenty-five  barrels  per  day. 

Philips  Well,  No.  Two. — Once  the  greatest  in  the  world. 
When  opened,  in  October,  1861,  flowed  thirty-nine  hun 
dred  and  forty  barrels  in  a  single  day !  A  child  may  play 
with  an  elephant ;  and  the  flow  of  this  monster  could  be 
regulated  by  a  stop-cock  whenever  the  tankage  came  short. 


Statistics  of  Production.  137 

But  trouble  came.  In  December  following,  the  Woodford 
well  was  put  down  within  seventy-five  feet,  and  tapped 
the  great  Philips  spring  ;  the  Woodford  responding  to  the 
figure  of  nearly  two  thousand  barrels  a  day.  Both  wells 
were  a  little  under  five  hundred  feet  deep.  The  Woodford 
gave  out  in  December,  1853 ;  but  meanwhile  it  had  inflicted 
serious  loss  on  the  Philips,  and  the  lawyers  were  called  in 
to  decide  the  dispute.  It  was  at  last  settled  by  a  compro 
mise,  and  the  Philips  resumed  with  a  much  more  sober 
flow.  In  1864,  it  was  shut  down  for  seven  months,  and 
in  November  ceased  altogether  to  flow.  When  visited  in 
April,  it  had  begun  to  pump  about  fifty  barrels  per  day. 
This  well  has  been  productive  for  two  years  and  a  half, 
and  the  oil  furnished  by  it  would  probably  suffice  to  pay 
the  cost  of  all  the  wells  sunk  on  that  farm. 

Monitor  Well. — Pumping  twenty -five  barrels  per  day, 
and  reported  to  be  gaining.  Has  gone  a  week  at  this  rate. 
Used  to  be  a  flowing  well. 

Smith's  Wells,  J¥os.  One  and  Two. — Just  recommenced. 
Both  flowed  at  one  time.  No.  Two,  with  a  blower,  now 
yields  about  twenty  barrels  per  day ;  No.  One,  little  ex 
cept  water.  Both  about  three  years  old. 

Kirwan  Well. — Used  to  give  one  hundred  and  twenty 
barrels  per  day.  Stopped  for  the  winter,  and  just  started 
afresh.  Before  stopping  gave  eight  barrels  daily. 

Pratt  and  Sherman  Well.  —  Has  done  little  lately. 
Yielded  over  one  hundred  barrels  per  day  at  one  time,  but 
now  dropsical.  Was  six  weeks  in  pumping  out  the  water 
last  spring — a  too  general  complaint  now  on  Tarra  farma. 

Sterling  Well. — Said  to  give  over  fifty  barrels  per  day, 
but  the  statement  appears  very  questionable,  judging  from 


138  Statistics  of  Production. 

the  discharge.  It  was  largely  water,  when  visited,  with 
not  more  than  thirty  barrels  of  oil. 

William  Penn  Wells. — Two  of  them  are  pumping  out 
bilge- water.  0  wners  about  putting  a  blower  into  the  third. 
The  last  yields  about  five  barrels  daily.  Never  was  of 
much  account. 

Woodford  Well.— Broke  the  spell  of  the  Big  Philips. 
Has  been  idle  for  three  months,  with  some  prospect  of 
yielding  oil  again. 

Barely  one-fourth  of  the  wells  on  Tarr  farm  are  active, 
and  of  those  it  will  be  seen  that  several  are  exhausting 
the  water  only.  Others  were  preparing  to  resume,  but  it 
was  not  thought  probable  that  the  brine  or  brackish  water 
would  be  pumped  out  before  the  middle  of  May  or  the 
first  of  June.  Hardly  one  in  ten  continued  actively  at 
work  during  the  winter.  In  consequence  of  puncturing 
the  ground  at  every  few  rods  and  the  withdrawal  of  tubes, 
the  Tarr  farm,  from  being  the  best,  has  become  only  third- 
class  property.  The  period  during  which  productive  wells 
now  actually  yield  oil  does  not  average  six  months  in  the 
year. 

THE   BLOOD  FAKM 

is  named  after  its  previous  owner,  Mr.  Blood,  now  also  a 
petroleum  millionaire.  The  property  is  owned  in  part  by 
the  Blood  Farm  Petroleum  Association,  and  in  part  by 
the  Home  Petroleum  Company.  Property  lies  on  both 
sides  of  the  creek.  Below  is  a  list  of  the  active  works : 
Lehigh  Wells. — Three  in  number.  No.  One  is  getting 
ready.  Belongs  to  Germanic  Oil  Company.  No.  Two  is 
in  operation,  and  yields  about  ten  barrels  per  day.  No. 
Three  gives  thirty  barrels. 


Statistics  of  Production.  139 

Collins  Well. — Information  refused.  Estimated  the  yield 
at  not  more  than  ten  barrels  per  day.  Four-fifths  of  dis 
charge  is  water.  Well  is  reported  to  give  thirty  barrels 
per  day  sometimes. 

Burning  Well. — Great  flowing  concern  at  one  time.  Gave 
six  hundred  barrels  per  day  at  first,  but  decreased  gradu 
ally,  and  is  now  idle. 

PiOdns  Well. — Used  to  give  one  hundred  and  fifty  bar 
rels  a  day.  Is  eighteen  months  old.  Broke  down  lately, 
and  is  not  doing  much  at  present. 

Barrow  and  Painter's  Well. — No.  Two  gives  average  yield 
of  twenty  to  twenty-five  barrels  per  day.  New  well,  just 
tested.  Appearances  good. 

Duncan  Well. — Yields  fifty  barrels  a  day ;  on  some  days 
as  much  as  sixty.  Has  been  at  work  about  two  years. 
Owner  a  heavy  operator  on  Cherry  Kun  and  elsewhere. 

Ocean  Company's  Well. — Been  in  operation  only  about 
one  week.  Gives  six  or  seven  barrels  per  day. 

Jr  J 

True  Boy  Well. — Has  been  flowing  about  twenty  barrels 
per  day  for  past  three  weeks ;  average  for  past  year,  about 
ten  barrels.  Been  running  two  or  three  years. 

Maple  GroveWell. — Pumps  about  forty  barrels  per  day. 
Has  been  going  over  three  years.  Began  with  small  tub 
ing,  and  .yielded  only  twenty-five  barrels.  With  improved 
apparatus  has  done  better. 

Combs  and  Prince  Well. — Been  going  nearly  a  year. 
Yields  ten  to  twelve  barrels  a  day  by  pumping.  Another 
well  on  same  lease  just  testing. 

Bushnell  Well. — Gives  between  thirty  and  forty  barrels 
daily.  Two  or  three  years  old. 

Old  Reed  Well. — Flowed  ten  barrels  per  day  until  the 


140  Statistics  of  Production. 

vein  was  tapped  by  another,  when  the  quantity  named  fell 
off  to  a  mere  dripping,  probably  not  one  barrel  per  day. 

Buffalo  Well. — Yields  about  five  barrels  daily.  Dis 
charges,  by  flowing,  about  three  times  per  minute. 

MEM. — Nearly  all  the  wells  on  the  lower  part  of  Blood 
farm  are  unproductive,  not  more  than  one  in  ten  showing 
signs  of  activity,  when  passed  through.  A  small  number 
of  new  ones  are  going  down  along  the  heights.  On  the 
upper  end,  a  large  majority  of  them  are  also  idle,  having 
given  out  or  been  damaged  by  flood.  Some  are  deepen 
ing,  with  a  view  to  reaching  a  lower  source  than  has  yet 
been  discovered.  Nearly  half  the  derricks  are  new,  but 
a  majority  of  these  are  inactive. 

CHERRYTREE   RUN. 

This  is  the  name  of  a  mill-stream  discharging  into  Oil 
Creek  from  the  west,  a  short  distance  above  Eouseville. 
It  acquired,  last  winter,  some  celebrity  from  a  flowing 
well  known  as  the 

Big  Tank  Well. — "Was  yielding  over  fifty  barrels  per 
day,  when  the  works  caught  fire  and  burned  up.  The 
well  has  not  since  been  rigged  up  again.  Why  it  has  been 
suffered  to  remain  so,  I  have  not  learned. 

Watersorfs  Well. — Just  testing.  Yielded  by  pumping, 
first  twenty-four  hours,  twelve  or  fifteen  barrels. 

A  great  number  of  new  works  are  in  progress  along 
that  stream.  Good  judges  estimate  the  aggregate  at  fully 
one  hundred.  A  village  is  rising  at  the  mouth  of  the  run. 

THE   RYND  FARM. 

That  portion  of  the  Eynd  farm  which  has  been  subject 
ed  to  the  drill  lies  chiefly  on  the  east  side  of  the  creek. 


Statistics  of  Production.  141 

A  machine-shop  and  a  saw-mill  are  at  work  on  the  bottom. 
Of  the  whole  number  of  wells  sunk  about  one-fifth  were 
active,  when  visited,  and  the  proportion  of  new  derricks 
to  old  is  not  very  different — perhaps  a  little  greater.  The 
movement  is  generally  made  to  higher  ground. 

Diamond  Well.  —  Has  been  in  operation  two  years. 
Pumps  about  twenty  barrels  daily.  Depth,  a  little  over 
five  hundred  feet,  about  the  usual  figure. 

Rynd  Farm  Company's  Well,  No.  Eight. — Has  been  go 
ing  about  two  months.  Yields,  by  pumping,  twenty-five 
barrels  per  day. 

Frost  Company's  Well. — Flows  about  five  barrels  per  day. 

Laihrop  Well,  No.  Fourteen. — Testing.  Show  pronounced 
good.  Product  so  far,  estimated  at  five  barrels  per  day. 
"Well  to  be  deepened.  Owners  evidently  not  satisfied  with 
performance. 

Lathrop  Well,  No.  — . — Pumped  two  days,  and  said  to 
have  given  about  fifteen  barrels  per  day. 

Frost  Company's  Well,  No.  Sixteen. — Three  years  old. 
Pumped  ten  barrels  per  day  until  lately.  Putting  in  new 
engine. 

Frost  Company's  Well,  No.  — . — Used  to  give  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  barrels  per  day  by  flowing ;  now  gives  ten 
by  pumping. 

WIDOW  MCCLINTOCK  FARM. 

There  is  considerable  activity  on  this  estate.  Several 
wells  which  had  lain  idle,  in  addition  to  those  mentioned 
underneath,  are  about  to  be  deepened  or  start  pumping 
again.  Those  in  operation  are  the  following  : 

Hammond  Well. — "Was  a  flowing  spring.  Produced  five 
hundred  barrels  daily  for  a  time.  Is  now  idle.  While 


142  Statistics  of  Production. 

tubes  withdrawing,  they  fell  to  the  bottom  and  could  not 
be  recovered.  Proprietors  now  boring  another  alongside. 

Chase  Well. — Was  pumping  thirty-five  barrels  per  day 
before  the  great  freshet.  Damaged  by  it  and  since  idle. 
Manager  clearing  it  out  and  preparing  to  resume  work. 

Bumstead  Well. — Newly  opened.  Pumped  one  hundred 
barrels  the  first  day — so  stated.  Seed-bags  burst  and  not 
yet  replaced.  No  reason  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  this 
statement. 

McGue  Well,  No.  Four. — Just  reopened.  Yields  half  a 
barrel  or  so  daily,  but  expected  to  do  better  when  water 
is  exhausted. 

Oeorgiana  Well. — Old  work.  Long  idle,  and  just  started 
again.  Pumps  about  fifteen  barrels  per  day. 

King  Well — Belongs  to  Buffalo  and  Cherry  Yalley  Oil 
Company.  Been  in  operation  about  six  months.  Said  to 
yield  ten  barrels  per  day.  Outside  statements  and  appear 
ances  incline  me  to  put  the  amount  at  five  or  six. 

Cincinnati  Well. — Averaged  fourteen  barrels  per  day 
last  week.  Is  expected  to  do  rather  better  than  half  that 
quantity.  Opened  about  first  of  January  last,  but  not 
pumped  regularly. 

Westmoreland  Well. — Just  struck  oil.  Tools  fell  in  arid 
stuck  fast.  Good  show  of  oil. 

Painter  Well. — About  two  years  old.  Averages  about 
ten  barrels  per  day. 

Sterrett  Well. — At  one  time  yielded  one  hundred  and 
fifty  barrels  per  day.  Now  ranges  from  five  to  thirty,  with 
an  average  of  nearly  twenty  barrels.  Day  of  visit,  gave 
thirty. 

Sterrett  Well  No.  Three.— Struck  oil  about  the  first  of 


Statistics  of  Production.  143 

December  last.  Idle  all  winter.  Now  pumping  about 
twenty-five  barrels  per  day. 

SanJcey  Well.  —  About  eighteen  months  in  operation. 
Flows  about  four  barrels  daily. 

Ocean  Well. — Yielded  little  before  getting  burned. 

Tamhill  Well. — In  operation  about  six  weeks.  Giving 
six  barrels  per  day,  with  steady  yield. 

EOUSEYILLE, 

situated  at  the  mouth  of  Cherry  Eun,  which  enters  from 
the  east,  is  one  of  the  most  active  villages  in  the  valley. 
It  has,  besides  the  post-office,  hotels,  etc.,  a  bank,  a  church, 
and  an  oil  refinery.  Some  travellers  regard  Eouseville  as 
the  metropolis  of  Petrolia,  and  if  supreme  disorder  in  lay 
ing  out  the  place,  mud,  and  high  prices  constitute  the  test, 
this  village  will  take  a  high  rank.  It  is  named  after  Mr. 
Kouse,  who  died  in  one  of  the  great  conflagrations  alluded 
to  elsewhere.  He  was  conscious  long  enough  to  bequeath 
large  sums  to  charitable  uses. 

Of  the  works  in  Oil  Creek  valley,  immediately  in  front 
of  Eouseville,  nearly  seven-eighths  were  idle  at  the  time 
of  visiting.  Along  the  bluff  the  ratio  was  not  so  unfa 
vorable.  About  fifty  new  derricks  have  been  erected  on 
the  heights  on  both  sides  of  Cherry  Eun,  at  elevations 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet.  These  works  are  not  all 
active.  The  wells  on  Cherry  Eun  proper  will  be  noticed 
under  a  separate  head.  Annexed  are  the  statistics  of  the 
principal  on  Oil  Creek : 

WillougJiby  Well. — "Was  a  flowing  well  three  years  ago. 
Now  pumps  about  five  barrels  per  day. 

Shaft  Well— Belongs   to  Allen,  Wright  &  Company. 


144  Statistics  of  Production. 

Used  to  be  a  fifty-barrel  well,  but  vein  tapped  by  another, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  off.  Now  pumps  from 
ten  to  forty  barrels,  according  to  condition  of  the  tubes  in 
other  well.  Up  to  last  November,  had  produced  twenty- 
four  thousand  barrels,  worth  probably  one  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars.  Uses  its  own  gas  in  furnace. 

Miller,  Riddle  &  Company 's  Well. — Has  been  going  since 
last  January.  Yielded  two  hundred  barrels  at  first ;  now 
averages  about  sixty  per  day. 

Faulkner  Well. — Pumps  about  twenty  barrels  daily. 
Yield  improving.  Has  been  in  operation  since  last 
December.  Estimate  above  considered  safe  and  rather 
low. 

Manville  Well. — In  operation  a  little  over  three  months. 
Pumps  fully  twenty  barrels  per  day. 

Gate  Well. — Four  months  in  operation.  Yield  aver 
ages  ten  barrels  daily. 

Rope  Well. — Been  going  about  three  years,  and  still 
pumping  about  fifty  barrels  daily. 

Haines  <&  Anderson  Well.  —  Was  an  eighty -barrel 
well  until  lately.  Managers  complain  of  bad  luck,  oil- 
vein  having  been  struck  by  other  wells,  some  as  far  as 
two  hundred  yards  distant.  Has  done  little  for  five 
months. 

Bawling  Well. — At  one  time,  gave  one  hundred  bar 
rels  per  day ;  but  suffers  from  same  misfortune  as  the  last- 
named.  Pumped  eighteen  or  twenty  barrels  the  day  be 
fore  visit.  Been  in  operation  about  six  months. 

Oil  Exchange  Company's  Well,  No.  Two. — Yields  very 
little. 

Welster  Well,  (west  side  of  creek,)  No.  Eight.— Put 
down  last  year.  Gives  from  six  to  eight  barrels  daily. 


Statistics  of  Production.  145 

Well  on  Lot  No.  Forty-seven. — Belongs  to  a  Mr. 
Means.  Produces  six  or  seven  barrels  per  day. 

Chamberlain  and  Hibbard's  Well. — Sunk  last  year. 
Average  daily  yield,  ten  barrels. 

No.  Forty-five  Well. — Sunk  last  February.  Yields 
about  ten  barrels  per  day. 

THE  BUCHANAN  FARM 

lies  immediately  below  Kouseville,  the  works  being 
nearly  all  on  the  east  side  of  the  creek.  Like  all  the  other 
bottoms  low  down  the  valley,  this  farm  was  severely 
scourged  by  the  great  freshet.  At  the  time  of  my  visit, 
four-fifths  of  the  wells  were  idle ;  indeed,  on  the  upper 
portion  of  it,  not  one  engine  was  running.  The  greater 
part  of  the  wells  appeared  to  have  been  abandoned  as  bad 
jobs,  not  merely  laid  up  by  a  temporary  misfortune.  It 
is  possible,  however,  that,  through  an  oversight  of  mine, 
two  or  three  producing  wells  on  this  property  have  not 
been  examined. 

Clark  and  Baiiktfs  Wells. — One  in  operation  about 
four  years ;  the  other,  eighteen  months.  The  two  yield 
nearly  one  hundred  barrels  per  day. 

Willoughly  Well. — Just  started.  Yields  from  one  to 
two  barrels  daily. 

Wadsworth  Well. — Yields  water  only  as  yet. 

Well  on  the  west  side  creek,  just  started.  Day  before 
visit  flowed  some  oil  ;  but  workmen  cannot  say  how 
much. 

THE  JOHN  AND  HAM.   M'CLINTOCK  FARMS 

come  next  in  order,  in  passing  down  the  valley.     Mc- 
Clintock  village  is  the   "  hub  "  of  this  "  territory  " — a 
7 


146  Statistics  of  Production. 

feeble  imitation  of  Oil  City,  squatting  on  the  bottom,  with 
a  hotel,  several  boarding-houses,  and  two  or  three  refiner 
ies.  About  one  well  in  every  five  sunk  was  in  operation 
when  visited,  and  the  new  derricks  bore  a  like  propor 
tion  to  old  ones.  Part  of  those  have  been  erected  over 
wells  whose  former  head-gear  had  been  washed  away 
or  destroyed  by  the  flood.  The  principal  degree  of  activ 
ity  prevailing  about  the  old  works  is  nearly  confined  to 
the  upper  end  of  this  property;  but  lower  down  there 
are  others  in  progress. 

McKinley  Well. — Flows  from  fifty  to  sixty  barrels  per 
day.  Stream  never  stops  altogether,  but  increases  and 
diminishes  largely.  Principal  discharge  takes  place  about 
once  in  six  minutes. 

Baltimore  and  Venango  Oil  Company's  Well. — Situ 
ated  on  the  east  side.  Oil  struck  last  February.  Pumped 
at  the  rate  of  sixty  barrels  per  day,  when  managers  pulled 
out  sucker-rods  and  well  began  ioflow.  Now  yields,  ac 
cording  to  information,  two  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  per 
day.  Is  probably  good  for  two  hundred  barrels. 

Hibbard  Well. — Pumps  about  ten  barrels  per  day. 

Parker  Well. — Close  by  last.     Pumps  one  barrel  daily. 

Abbot  Well. — In  operation  five  months.  Eeported  to 
be  flowing  one  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  per  day.  Yielded 
two  hundred  and  forty  at  one  time.  Is  on  the  decline ; 
and  I  estimate  the  actual  yield  at  probably  not  far  from 
one  hundred  and  twenty. 

McClintock  Petroleum  Company's  Wells.  —  One  had 
pumped  thirty  barrels  per  day  for  last  ten  days.  Another 
yields  about  ten  barrels. 

A  flowing  well,  on  east  side,  (name  not  ascertained,) 
pours  out  a  steady  stream  for  some  minutes,  then  subsides 


Statistics  of  Production. 

for  about  an  equal  space.  Belongs  to  a  New-York  inter 
est.  Struck  oil  about  a  week  before  visit.  Yielded  sixty 
barrels  per  day  at  first,  then  about  forty. 

The  success  of  these  few  really  good  wells  in  the  lower 
end  of  the  valley,  at  a  time  when  its  reputation  had  begun 
to  wane,  has  caused  property  to  appreciate  once  more ; 
and  adventurers  are  likely  to  turn  their  attention  afresh  to 
those  bottoms. 

THE   CLAPP  FARM, 

lying  still  nearer  to  Oil  City,  is  rather  less  productive  and 
active  than  those  above  it.  In  some  localities  nearly 
every  derrick  is  standing  idle.  About  one-third  of  the 
works  are  in  progress.  Nearly  all  are  on  the  west  side, 
the  bottom  here  being  one-third  of  a  mile  across. 

Hemlock  Well. — On  east  side  of  creek.  Before  the 
freshet,  pumped  sixty  barrels  a  day.  Present  yield  not 
ascertained  ;  estimate  at  thirty. 

Cuba  Well. — Been  opened  about  eight  months,  and  is 
pumping  one  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  per  day,  according 
to  information.  Estimate  at  one  hundred  and  twenty. 

Bliss  Well,  No.  One. — Struck  oil  on  first  April.  Flow 
estimated  at  fifty  barrels  per  day. 

Bliss  Well,  No.  Two. — Just  testing,  with  good  prospects ; 
but  actual  yield  unknown.  Quite  wrathy  with  flow  of 
gas  and  frequent  spirts^  of  oil.  Well  No.  Three  in  progress. 

Well  re- tubed  and  just  commenced  again.  Yield  esti 
mated  at  five  barrels  per  day ;  gave  one  hundred  and  forty 
barrels  at  cne  time.  Another  well  close  by,  pumping  about 
two  barrels  daily.  Names  not  ascertained. 

On  Cornplanter  Kun,  entering  from  the  west  a  short  dis 
tance  above  Oil  City,  is  a  flowing  or  dripping  well,  whose 


14:8  Statistics  of  Production. 

yield  (of  lubricating  oil)  is  from  three  to  four  barrels  per 
week. 

Between  the  mouth  of  this  stream  and  Oil  City  are 
three  other  wells  in  operation,  with  an  aggregate  yield  of 
about  ten  barrels  per  day. 

On  the  last  two  miles  of  the  valley,  I  counted  about 
seventy  derricks,  a  majority  of  which  appeared  to  be 
abandoned.  Signs  of  activity  near  fifteen  or  twenty.  On 
and  near  Cornplanter  Kun  were  a  dozen  or  so  of  works  in 
progress.  On  or  below  the  Clapp  farm  were  nine  refiner 
ies,  of  which  only  two  were  active,  and  several  had  been 
damaged  by  water.  Found  it  very  difficult  to  get  facts 
thereabouts,  as,  in  addition  to  the  extensive  solitudes  ex 
isting,  new  hands  had  gone  to  work  at  several  of  the  wells. 

Between  Oil  City  .and  Rouse ville  (three  miles)  the 
number  of  derricks  standing  was,  last  winter,  ascertained 
to  be  four  hundred  and  thirty-five,  which  would  be  equiva 
lent  to  at  least  five  hundred  wells  actually  put  down.  In 
walking,  multitudes  of  pits  are  seen  without  any  upper 
works  attached,  these  having  been  washed  away,  burned, 
or  removed.  As  an  approximate  estimate,  I  give  the 
number  of  wells  put  down  on  Oil  Creek  proper  at  two 
thousand,  with,  five  hundred  more  in  progress.  To  these 
should  be  added  one  thousand  more,  either  finished  or 
going  down,  along  the  various  streams  discharging  into 
that  great  oil  artery.  The  new  works  will  be  found  to 
number  not  far  from  one  thousand  in  this  basin  only  ;  but 
the  aggregate  of  abandoned  ones  is  doubtless  still  larger. 
Assuming,  then,  that  every  derrick  put  up  should  be  fol 
lowed  by  its  productive  well,  the  whole  number  would  be 
insufficient  to  replace  those  which  have  been  sunk  the 
past  five  years,  and  are  likely  to  be  left  to  themselves  the 


Statistics  of  Production.  149 

present  season.  And,  indeed,  if  we  add  to  this  basin  those 
of  the  Alleghany,  French  Creek,  Pithole,  etc.,  I  question 
whether  the  new  will  do  more  than  replace  all  the  old. 
But  a  comparatively  small  number  of  those  put  down  in 
the  past  year,  or  to  be  put  down  in  the  present,  will  yield 
oil  in  paying  quantities,  much  less  gush  forth  as  did  the 
wonderful  springs  reached  in  1861. 

CHERRY  RUN 

is  by  far  the  most  important  tributary  of  Oil  Creek.  It 
is  ten  or  twelve  miles  long;  but  at  its  mouth,  scarcely 
more  than  six  feet  wide.  At  its  lower  extremity  the  val 
ley  is  quite  narrow,  scarcely  more  than  a  stone-throw 
across,  but  higher  up  it  widens,  and  the  heights  on  each 
side  become  less  abrupt.  Above  Plumer  the  run  forks 
into  two  streams,  along  both  of  which  large  numbers  of 
new  works  are  rising.  The  wells  already  productive  are 
confined  to  a  space  within  two  miles  of  its  mouth  ;  but 
when  I  visited  the  valley,  several  others  approached  com 
pletion  near  Plumer,  and  their  managers  felt  confident  of 
striking  oiL  It  is  scarcely  a  year  since  that  secluded  val 
ley  was  invaded  in  good  earnest  by  the  petroleum  interest, 
the  Yankee  well  having  been  opened  in  the  early  part  of 
1864.  This,  followed  by  such  celebrities  as  the  Eeed,  the 
Mountain,  the  Auburn,  etc.,  soon  impelled  a  vast  number 
of  operators  to  the  neighborhood,  until  the  surface  is  liter 
ally  forested  with  works,  and  the  ground  punctured  every 
few  rods.  On  one  acre-lot,  twenty-five  derricks  have 
already  been  erected.  Beginning  from  the  upper  end  of 
the  valley,  we  find  the  following  works  in  operation  : 
Rockwell  Well.  —  Owned  by  Allen,  Wright  &  Co. 


150  Statistics  of  Production. 

Opened  last  June.  Steady  yield,  pumping  twelve  barrels 
in  twenty-four  hours. 

Dearborn  Well.  —  Opened  in  middle  of  last  July. 
Pumps  fifteen  to  twenty  barrels  per  day.  Belongs  to  the 
Cherry  Run  Petroleum  Company. 

Oarver  Well. — Just  tested.  Pumps  fifteen  barrels 
per  twenty-four  hours.  Yield  said  to  be  on  the  increase. 

jEmary  Well. — Newly  opened.  Flows  sixteen  barrels, 
but  will  pump  twenty  per  day.  The  latter  tried  occasion 
ally.  Yield  said  to  be  on  the  increase. 

Main  and  Horn  Bluff  Well. — Flows  one  hundred  and 
twenty  barrels  per  day.  Situated  on  the  bluff,  about  fifty 
feet  above  the  bottom.  Six  tanks,  with  capacity  of  about 
five  thousand  barrels. 

Allen ,  Wright  &  Go's  Well. — Has  been  flowing  about 
a  year.  Yields  an  average  of  seventy  barrels  per  day. 
Two  others,  belonging  to  same  interest,  pump  respectively 
two  and  thirty-five  barrels  per  day. 

Follett  Welly  No..  Three. — Been  three  or  four  months  in 
operation.  Yields  about  six  barrels  per  day. 

Anderson  Well. — Owned  by  United  States  Oil  Com 
pany.  Eeported  to  have  been  flowing  three  years  (?) 
Now  yielding  eighteen  barrels  daily. 

Ennis  c&  Babcock  Well. — Situated  on  face  of  bluff. 
Now  giving  ten  barrels  daily. 

United  States  Well,  No.  Four. — Been  in  operation  since 
last  August.  Yields  twelve  to  fifteen  barrels  per  day. 

Potter  and  Jack  Well. — Been  in  operation  three  years. 
Ranges  from  ten  to  fifteen  barrels  per  day. 

Tftica  Well. — In  operation.     Could  get  no  facts. 

Alham~bra  Well. — Belongs  to  Brown,  Rockwell  &  Co. 
Pumped  nearly  one  hundred  barrels  per  day  before  burn- 


Statistics  of  Production.  151 

ing  down  ;  now,  about  fifty  barrels.  Ee-commenced  about 
one  week. 

Auburn  Refinery  Well. — Owned  by  the  Messrs.  Orr, 
together  with  small  refinery  there.  Well  sunk  eighteen 
months.  Tools  lost  and  just  recovered.  Kaised  three  or 
four  barrels  lately.  Prospect  poor. 

Alden,  Brown  &  Perdits  Well. — Just  started.  Grot 
six  or  eight  barrels  the  day  before  visit. 

Buffalo  Well. — Has  yielded  in  all  about  twenty-five 
barrels.  Now  dry. 

Marietta  Well. — In  operation  about  four  months. 
Yield  irregular,  on  account  of  defects  in  machinery. 
Highest  quantity,  twenty-five  barrels  per  day;  average 
believed  to  be  about  fifteen  for  past  week. 

Well  No.  Nineteen. — Owned  by  Poole,  Brothers.  Never 
been  fairly  tested,  but  produced  oil.  Tools  fast  in  bottom. 

Union  Petroleum  Company  }s  Wells. — Four  already  in 
operation.  Aggregate  yield,  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  barrels  per  day,  or  eight  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  per  week.  Three  flow  steadily  and  one  irregularly. 
Been  going  various  periods,  from  nine  months  to  three 
weeks.  Company  will  have  five  more  completed  in  as 
many  weeks ;  two  others  are  also  in  progress.  A  New- 
York  city  interest. 

Moody  WeWs. — No.  One  gives  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  barrels  per  day  and  is  gaining.  In  operation  eight 
or  nine  months.  No.  Two  is  a  new  well,  nearly  equal  to 
the  other.  No.  Three,  also  new,  only  three  weeks  opened. 
Pumps  nearly  fifty  barrels  per  day.  Aggregate  yield, 
probably  eighty-five  barrels. 

Allen  <&  Wright  Oil  Company's  Welly  No.  Eighty- 
one. — Gives  about  twelve  barrels  per  day,  or  eighty-four 


152  Statistics  of  Production. 

per  week.  No.  Eighty-four  gives  forty  barrels  daily. 
Has  been  going  about  three  months. 

JBrevoort's  Company's  Wells. — No.  One  pumps  about 
fifty  barrels  a  day.  Four  or  five  months  in  operation. 
No.  Two  flows,  in  irregular  jets,  about  eight  barrels. 
No.  Three  pumps  about  twenty  barrels  and  is  gaining. 
No.  Four,  about  fifty-five  barrels  per  day. 

Mountain  Well. — One  of  the  greatest  in  all  Petrolia. 
Is  perched  on  the  face  of  the  bluff,  fifty  or  sixty  feet  above 
the  bottom.  Yery  slight  spasms  perceptible  in  the  dis 
charges.  Quantity  yielded,  given  at  three  hundred  and 
eighty  barrels  per  day ;  but  a  person  who  "  timed  "  it  is 
positive  that  it  took  five  days  to  fill  a  tank  of  eleven  hun 
dred  barrels,  averaging  two  hundred  and  twenty  barrels. 
Its  flow  was  considerably  larger  than  that  of  Eeed  well, 
when  visited.  Yery  little  water  in  either. 

Reed  Well. — Flowed  one  thousand  barrels  per  day  at 
first.  Now  reported  at  two  hundred  and  eighty  barrels. 
I  estimate  its  actual  amount  at  between  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  and  two  hundred.  Opened  last  July.  Flow 
described  as  being  uniform  and  steady,  no  change  having 
been  noticed  during  last  three  months.  Is,  however,  un 
doubtedly  on  the  decline.  "Well  and  two  acres  of  land 
sold  lately  for  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

Duff  Tract  or  Crewell  Well. — Owned*  by  Mingo  Oil 
Company  of  Philadelphia.  Produces  about  fifty -five  bar 
rels  per  day,  but  rated  at  seventy.  Kecently  opened. 
Oil  comes  spasmodically. 

Bradley  Wells. — One  of  them  lately  abandoned,  after 
having  pumped  twenty  to  twenty-five  barrels  a  day  for 
some  time.  Fell  off  to  nothing. 

Rynd  Farm  Oil  Company's  Well. — Perched  on  bluff. 


Statistics  of  Production.  153 

sixty  or  seventy  feet  above  the  stream.     Depth,  six  hun 
dred  and  fifty  feet,  or  a  correspondingly  greater  distance* 
than  those  sunk  in  valley.    Has  been  flowing  about  eighty- 
five  barrels  per  day  for  four  weeks. 

Denny  Well. — Belongs  to  Curtiss  Oil  Company.  Pumps 
about  sixteen  barrels  per  day,  on  average. 

Parker  Well.— Testing.  From  appearances,  they  ex 
pect  ten  barrels  per  day. 

Amazon  Well. — Flows  about  twenty  barrels  daily. 
Open  since  last  November. 

Wood  Well,  No.  One. — Just  completed.  Show  con 
sidered  rather  poor.  Other  wells  nearly  finished  on  slope, 
said  to  have  good  show. 

Rochester  Well. — By  pumping,  gives  about  twenty 
barrels  per  day. 

Baker  Well. — Flowing  from  forty-five  to  eighty  bar 
rels  daily.  Safe  to  estimate  the  average  at  sixty  barrels. 
Well  reported  at  two  hundred  and  twenty.  Discharges 
spasmodically. 

Watkins  Well. — Flows  and  pumps,  (to  get  the  paraf- 
fine  out  of  crevices.)  Yield,  about  fifty  barrels  per  day. 
Tubed  during  time  of  flood.  Started  week  before  visit. 

Auburn  Well.  —  Been  going  since  last  July.  Yield, 
about  sixty  barrels  per  day,  except  when  gas  gave  trou 
ble.  A  flowing  well. 

No.  Fifteen  Well.  —  Started  flowing  last  September. 
Ean  up  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  barrels  per  day.  Burst 
seed-bags  and  just  started  anew.  This  and  Auburn  foam, 
spirt,  and  flow  spasmodically ;  while  the  Watkins  pours 
out  (by  flowing)  a  steady  stream  for  two  or  three  minutes 
and  then  subsides.  Estimate  at  forty  barrels. 


154:  Statistics  of  Production. 

Ballot  Well.  —  Flows  about  sixty  barrels  per  day. 
'Opened  the  present  year.  ^ 

Little  Giant  Well. — Yields  about  thirty -five  barrels  a 
day.  Would  give  forty,  if  pumped  steadily.  Been  four 
weeks  in  operation. 

Wade  JVo.  Four  Well. — Flows  with  a  steady  stream. 
Daily  yield,  about  twenty-five  barrels.  Been  going  for 
two  months. 

Yankee  Well. — One  of  the  most  eccentric  productions 
of  Petrolia.  After  twenty  minutes'  rest,  discharging  nei 
ther  oil  nor  gas,  the  tube  begins  to  emit  gentle  puffs,  ac 
companied  by  little  spirts  of  oil,  both  increasing  for 
three  minutes,  until  they  became  quite  violent  and  fre 
quent.  Can  be  heard  for  a  distance  of  two  hundred 
yards.  Noise  and  discharges  then  gradually  subside,  and 
at  the  end  of  five  or  six  minutes  stop  altogether.  Yield, 
about  fifty  barrels  per  day.  This  and  several  of  the 
wells  named  above  belong  to  the  Cherry  Yalley  Oil  Com 
pany,  who  own  a  tract  of  land  and  have  leased  out  several 
lots  to  other  interests.  The  Yankee  was  the  first  grand 
success  achieved  in  that  part  of  the  valley  known  as 
Smith's  farm. 

Apropos  of  that  property,  the  correspondent  quoted 
above  writes :  "  Less  than  three  yeajs  since,  a  man  named 
Smith,  poor  in  pocket  and  in  resources,  owned  a  farm  [of 
fifty  acres]  about  three  miles  up  Cherry  Eun.  Unable 
to  get  any  thing  out  of  his  farm,  he  endeavored  to  sell  it, 
and  get  down  on  the  creek  to  try  his  fortune  at  oil-mining. 
His  creditors  were  pressing  and  in  a  desperate  mood  he 
applied  to  J.  W.  Sherman,  who  had  then  recently  struck 
oil,  and  was  getting  rich,  offering  to  sell  his  farm  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  Sherman  declined  and  ad- 


Statistics  of  Production.  155 

vised  him  to  keep  the  farm,  in  case  something  to  his  ad 
vantage  might  turn  up.  But  Smith  was  determined  to  sell, 
and  eventually  found  a  purchaser  at  five  hundred  dollars. 
The  new  owner  re-sold  it  at  twenty-four  hundred  dollars, 
and  just  a  year  ago  it  was  re-sold  to  the  Cherry  Eun 
Oil  Company  for  sixty-five  hundred  dollars.  That  com 
pany  granted  leasehold  rights  to  bore  on  the  land,  re 
serving  a  royalty  of  half  the  oil.  Only  a  small  portion 
of  the  farm  has  yet  been  leased ;  but  the  royalty  to  the 
company  is  now  three  hundred  barrels  of  oil,  or  about 
three  thousand  dollars  daily.  Thus  two  days'  income 
about  pays  for  the  entire  purchase  of  the  property,  on 
which  the  proprietors  have  not  expended  a  dollar  beyond 
the  original  cost." 

I  may  add  a  few  additional  facts,  obtained  from  the 
superintendent  of  that  company.  Of  twenty-two  wells 
sunk  and  tested  on  that  farm,  all  but  one  gave  petroleum 
in  paying  quantities,  and  even  that  exceptional  case 
yielded  a  little.  All  the  parties  who  have  taken  leases 
are  represented  as  having  succeeded,  their  net  profits  hav 
ing  ranged  from  ten  thousand  dollars  to  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  There  is  no  land  for  sale  in  that  vicin 
ity.  Leases  for  quarter- acre  lots  are  given  for  a  royalty 
of  one-half,  and  bonuses  ranging  from  five  hundred  to 
three  thousand  dollars,  the  lessees  engaging  to  actually 
sink  one  well. 

Fee  Well,  Wo.  One. — Near  Yankee.  Flows  thirty  bar 
rels  per  day.  No.  Two. — Been  running  about  seven 
months.  Averaged  fifteen  or  sixteen  barrels  per  day  till 
two  weeks  before  visit,  when  got  in  an  improved  valve, 
and  now  yields  twenty  barrels. 

Coleby  Well.  —  In   operation  five  months.     Average 


156  Statistics  of  Production. 

yield,   by  pumping,   fifteen  barrels  per   day.     Seed-bag 
burst  and  had  to  stop  for  repairs. 

Remmington  or  Gruningen  Well,  No.  Eleven.  — 
Started  six  months  ago.  Pumps  about  fifty  barrels  per 
day.  Yield  said  to  be  on  the  increase. 

Bradley  Well,  No.  One.  —  Been  going  nearly  eight 
months.  Now  averages  ten  barrels  per  day.  Has  been 
reported  as  a  forty-barrel  well. 

Bradley  Well,  JVb.  Tivo, — Yields  about  eight  barrels 
daily.  Opened  since  No.  One. 

Fanner  Well.  —  In  operation  over  a  year.  Average 
yield,  twenty-five  barrels  per  day,  partly  flowing. 

Hicks  Well. — New  and  testing.  Good  appearance  of 
oil. 

Mallory  Well.— Six  months  in  operation.  Yield  about 
twenty  barrels  per  day.  Flows  occasionally.  Outsiders 
give  the  actual  yield  at  fifteen  barrels.  Was  not  yielding 
any,  when  visited. 

In  the  bottom  it  has  been  customary  to  sink  the  wells 
about  six  hundred  feet,  and  a  proportionally  greater  depth, 
if  higher  up.  As  the  stream  has  a  rapid  descent,  this 
would  bring  the  bottom  of  the  Cherry  Run  basin  about 
on  a  level  with  that  of  Oil  Creek  near  Eouseville,  where 
the  wells  average  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  The  won 
drous  results  obtained  on  the  lower  part  of  Cherry  Run 
have  led  to  most  extensive  operations  all  up  to  its  head 
waters.  In  six  miles,  the  number  of  new  derricks  erect 
ed  is  at  least  three  hundred.  For  half  a  mile  above  the 
mouth  of  that  run,  at  the  time  of  visiting,  most  of  the 
works  were  idle — at  least  five  out  of  every  six — having 
been  damaged  by  the  flood  or  given  out  altogether.  But 
the  owners  appeared  to  regard  this  comparative  stagnation 


Statistics  of  Production.  157 

with  indifference,  provided  the  sixth  well  turned  out 
handsomely.  Further  developments  in  and  around 
Plumer  will  be  looked  for  with  great  interest.  Grouping 
together  all  the  works  actually  tested  in  that  valley,  I  es 
timate  the  profitable  concerns  at  between  thirty  and  forty 
per  cent  of  the  whole.  The  term  "profitable"  means 
that  they  return  to  their  owner  the  actual  outlay  for  sink 
ing  and  management,  interest  on  the  capital,  and  the  pur 
chase-price  of  land  at  moderate  (not  speculative)  values. 

PITHOLE   CKEEK 

is  a  tributary  of  the  Alleghany,  which  it  enters  from  the 
north-west,  at  a  point  about  twelve  miles  above  Oil  City, 
after  a  course  of  as  many  miles.  About  half-way  up,  it 
parts  into  two  branches,  known  as  Big  and  Little  Pithole, 
the  latter  rising  on  the  elevated  table-lands  near  the  source 
of  Cherry  Eun.  The  stream  is  small,  and  has  a  rapid  de 
scent.  Except  at  its  mouth,  the  works  on  which  will  be 
noticed  under  the  head  of  'the  Alleghany  River  valley, 
the  developments  on  Pithole  have  been  quite  recent,  the 
first  well  having  struck  oil  in  January.  The  route  usu 
ally  taken  to  that  section  is  through  Rouseville  and 
Plumer. 

On  Little  Pithole,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  I  was  assured 
that  a  flowing  well  of  over  one  hundred  barrels  per  day 
had  just  been  struck,  a  mile  or  two  from  the  turnpike. 
It  was  out  of  my  power  to  visit  the  work,  and  I  give  the 
statement  (made  by  a  mechanic)  for  what  it  is  worth. 
Extensive  preparations  are  making  to  sink  wells  on  that 
stream.  About  forty  derricks  had  already  made  their 
appearance,  and  large  numbers  of  others  were  under 
stood  to  have  been  contracted  for.  The  Excelsior  (New- 


158  Statistics  of  Production. 

York)  Company,  it  was  stated,  would  sink  fifty  wells  the 
present  season.  Eiddle,  Miller  &  Company  had  several 
on  the  way. 

Along  the  head-waters  of  Big  Pithole  the  same  activity 
was  manifest.  One  company  had  contracted  to  put  down 
twenty-five  wells  on  a  single  farm,  this  summer,  such  be 
ing  one  of  the  conditions  of  sale.  The  purchaser  of  land 
in  the  bottom  was  considered  lucky,  if  he  secured  it  at 
two  thousand  dollars  per  acre.  At  that  place  it  would 
probably  be  necessary  to  sink  seven  hundred  feet  before 
reaching  the  oil-bearing  rock.  One  well  on  the  Dawson 
farm  had  reached  a  depth  of  five  hundred  and  twenty 
feet,  without  any  appearance.  Along  the  principal  roads, 
nearly  one-half  of  the  lands  had  been  cultivated  before 
the  oil  excitement. 

Copeland  Well. — Was  struck  on  the  eighth  of  April, 
at  a  depth  of  six  hundred  and*  forty-seven  feet.  Flowed 
sixty  barrels  a  day  at  first ;  but  defect  in  tubing  discov 
ered,  and  this  had  to  be  done  over  again.  Working  at 
this,  when  visited  the  well.  Is  certainly  productive ;  but 
had  not  been  going  long  enough  to  ascertain  its  actual 
yield.  Belongs  to  United  States  Petroleum  Company. 

Lincoln  Well. — On  same  farm  and  about  six  miles 
from  mouth  of  stream.  Depth,  six  hundred  and  forty- 
five  feet*  Yields  twenty-five  barrels  per  day,  partly  by 
flowing.  Had  reached  the  fourth  sand-rock,  (of  course.) 
Another  well  in  progress  on  same  premises. 

Fmzier  Well. — The  making  of  Pithole,  situated  on  the 
Holmden  farm,  nearly  a  mile  below  the  last-named.  Oil 
struck  in  the  early  part  of  January  last,  the  flow  being 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  barrels  per  day  at  first.  It 
is  now  rated  at  two  hundred  and  thirty.  Tanks  have  a 


Statistics  of  Production.  159 

capacity  of  eight  thousand  two  hundred  barrels,  and  were 
nearly  full  at  time  of  visit.  Learned  that  earlier  in  the 
season  quantities  had  been  taken  off  on  sleighs.  Just 
opening  a  wagon-road  to  the  works.  How  lately  the 
yield  was  tested  I  did  not  learn.  The  flow  is  continuous 
and  uniform,  with  little  water,  being  about  one  tenth  the 
capacity  of  a  two-inch  tube.  Belongs  to  the  United 
States  Petroleum  Company  of  New- York. 

Another  flowing  well  has  since  been  reported  to  have 
been  struck  on  the  creek,  close  by  the  Holmden  farm. 
Eumor  gives  its  product  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  and 
even  two  hundred  barrels  per  day ;  but  these  figures  are 
probably  exaggerated. 

The  United  States  Petroleum  Company  are  putting 
down  six  other  wells  on  their  tract  at  Pithole,  besides 
three  or  four  others  elsewhere.  According  to  appear 
ances,  one  hundred  new  wells  will  be  sunk  in  that  valley 
the  present  season. 

Near  "Wood's  mill  one  was  reported  to  have  got  a  good 
show  of  oil,  at  the  depth  of  seven  hundred  feet.  That 
locality  is  about  two  miles  below  the  Frazier  well. 

FRENCH  CKEEK. 

This  is  probably  the  largest  tributary  received  by  the 
Alleghany,  the  creek  being  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
long,  and  one  hundred  yards  broad  at  its  mouth.  Its 
general  course  is  from  north-west  to  south-east,  corre 
sponding  with  that  of  the  Alleghany  for  fifty  miles  below 
Franklin.  The  stream  is  less  sinuous  than  some  others, 
while  the  valley  is  wider  than  most  of  the  bottoms. 

Boring  for  oil  has  extended  to  a  point  above  the  village 
of  Utica,  or  ten  miles  from  Franklin.  The  numerous 


160  Statistics  of  Production. 

transfers  of  land  and  current  reports  would  indicate  that 
before  long  openings  will  be  made  higher  up-stream.  On 
the  tributaries  of  French  Creek  it  is  also  probable  that 
a  considerable  movement  will  take  place  before  long. 

In  regard  to  the  quantity,  the  quality,  and  the  situation 
where  oil  is  obtained,  French  Creek  differs  widely  from 
Oil  Creek  and  its  tributaries.  To  notice  them  in  order: 

First.  The  quality  is  not  the  common  illuminating  oil, 
with  a  gravity  of  fifty  or  sixty  degrees ;  but  lubricating 
oil  of  nearly  the  best  kind,  its  gravity  being  thirty  to 
thirty-two  ;  while  the  finest  Mecca  is  twenty -eight  de 
grees.  Consequently  it  commands  a  much  higher  price 
than  any  other ;  while  there  is  far  less  fluctuation  in  its 
market  value.  With  the  common  variety  in  its  crude 
state,  ranging  from  three  to  twelve  dollars  per  barre], 
French  Creek  oil  is  ordinarily  between  twenty  and  twen 
ty-five  dollars.  Yet  the  charges  for  transportation,  and 
the  internal  revenue  duties  on  both  are  alike.  The 
French  Creek  kind  has  the  additional  advantage  of  being 
susceptible  of  use  without  any  outlay  or  loss  for  refining, 
except  when  it  is  to  be  applied  to  delicate  machinery. 

Second.  In  quantity  it  also  differs.  For  while  several 
wells  on  Oil  Creek  and  its  tributaries  have  yielded  from 
one  hundred  to  three  thousand  barrels  per  day,  the  best 
on  French  Creek  or  (its  tributary)  Sugar  Creek,  has  fallen 
below  fifty  barrels,  while  the  average  yield  of  profitable 
wells  has  not  reached  five  barrels  for  a  whole  year.  There 
is  quite  as  large  a  proportion  of  idle  and  abandoned 
works  along  French  Creek  as  anywhere  else. 

Third.  The  situation  in  which  petroleum  is  obtained 
on  French  Creek  is  higher  up  geologically  than  else 
where.  Against  wells  which  have  to  be  sunk  five  hun- 


Statistics  of  Production.  161 

dred  or  six  hundred  feet  along  Oil  Creek  and  Cherry  Run, 
it  is  not  customary  to  sink  to  a  lower  depth  than  three 
hundred,  above  Franklin.  The  second  sand-rock  there  is 
reached  at  half  the  cost  required  to  enter  the  third  at  five 
hundred  feet.  The  only  experiment  that  I  heard  of  where 
oil  had  been  obtained  from  the  third  sand-rock  on  French 
Creek,  in  paying  quantities,  resulted  in  bringing  up 
the  common  article,  not  the  kind  got  in  the  higher  veins. 
This  was  at  the  depth  of  seven  hundred  feet,  the  increased 
distance  arising  from  the  general  dip  of  all  the  rocks  to 
ward  the  south-west. 

Fourth.  The  people  of  French  Creek  allege  that  they 
have  one  other  advantage  over  their  neighbors  further 
north,  in  that  the  proportion  of  wells  actually  paying  ex 
penses  is  larger  there  than  elsewhere.  They  claim  that  a 
majority  of  all  those  put  down  have  repaid  both  the  ori 
ginal  outlay  and  the  cost  of  management.  Some  even 
put  the  ratio  of  profitable  works  as  high  as  six  or  seven 
out  of  every  ten.  My  belief  is,  after  making  due  inquiry, 
that  both  these  figures  are  a  good  deal  too  high,  and  that 
three  or  four  out  of  ten  would  be  much  nearer  the  mark. 
This  is  certainly  a  liberal  enough  estimate.  It  is  true  that 
the  receipts  for  one  barrel  per  day  will  cover  all  running 
expenses  ;  while  a  second  barrel,  if  contributed  for  only 
twelve  months,  will  return  the  principal  invested  and 
a  liberal  interest.  Still,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
not  one  well  in  a  hundred  keeps  up  its  accustomed  yield 
day  after  day  for  a  whole  year,  interruptions  of  various 
kinds  happening  frequently  at  the  best  seasons. 

But  with  fewer  first-class  prizes  to  offer  than  other  local 
ities,  though  there  might  be  as  much  diminished  risk,  it 
has  come  to  pass  that  French  Creek  has  drawn  to  itself 


162  Statistics  of  Production. 

comparatively  little  attention  ;  and  the  number  of  new  as 
well  as  old  works  may  be  reckoned  in  tens,  instead  of 
hundreds.  The  price  of  lands  varies  from  one  thousand 
dollars  per  acre,  near  Franklin,  to  one  hundred  dollars, 
near  the  sources  of  Sugar  Creek.  The  plough  and  the 
hoe  are  not  yet  relics  of  a  past  age  along  these  valleys. 

In  going  down  the  railroad  from  Meadville  to  Franklin, 
the  visitor  passes  seven  idle  or  unfinished  wells  before 
reaching  the  first  in  operation,  namely : 

Henrietta  Well. — Present  yield,  three  barrels  per  day. 
Been  nearly  three  years  in  operation.  Flowed  for  a  time. 
Belongs  to  a  Philadelphia  interest. 

Of  the  next  nine  wells  six  are  in  progress.  One  has 
been  entirely  abandoned,  the  machinery  being  removed. 
One  was  stopped  by  the  flood,  after  going  two  years.  It 
was  yielding  two  barrels  per  day  at  the  time.  The  last 
gave  three  barrels  daily ;  but  complaint  was  made  of  the 
engine  as  being  too  weak.  The  tank  had  also  been 
washed  away.  All  standing  idle. 

The  next  half-dozen  works  consist  of  two  abandoned 
wells  and  four  in  progress.  f  Following  these,  we  have  four 
belonging  to  the  French  Creek  Lubricating-Oil  Company, 
described  as  follows  :  No.  One  gave  two  barrels  per  day 
for  five  months,  but  was  stopped  by  the  freshet.  No.  Two 
gave  a  very  small  quantity.  No.  Three  is  an  old  well, 
having  been  in  operation  four  years.  Was  yielding  five 
barrels  per  day  before  freshet.  No.  Four  was  working  its 
way  downward  in  search  of  the  third  sand-rock,  but  at 
the  depth  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  feet  had  not  found  it. 

One  well  (proprietors  unknown)  was  in  operation,  and 
said  to  be  giving  three  barrels  per  day. 

The  Pierson  Oil  Company  of  Philadelphia  own  five 


Statistics  of  Production.  163 

wells.  No.  One  yielded  in  all  about  twenty-five  barrels, 
several  years  since.  Now  idle.  No.  Two  gives  one  bar 
rel  per  day,  against  four  barrels,  its  former  product.  None 
of  the  others  is  doing  as  well  as  No.  Two. 

The  McCormicJc  and  McKissock  Wells  are  on  the  south 
side  of  the  creek.  No.  One,  very  old  concern,  and  report 
ed  to  pump  about  one  barrel  per  day.  No.  Two  is  new 
and  pumps  about  same  quantity  in  three  hours,  resting 
other  twenty-one.  No.  Three  in  progress. 

Neidler  Well. — Flowed  about  twelve  barrels  a  day  for 
eight  weeks,  and  subsided. 

Another  well  (name  unknown)  pumps  four  barrels  a 
day.  Used  to  give  six.  Been  in  operation  nearly  two  years. 

Immediately  above  Franklin  are  nearly  a  dozen  works 
in  progress,  and  half  as  many  idle  or  abandoned.  Of  these, 
some  are  reported  to  have  yielded  three  or  four  barrels  a 
day,  and  probably  repaid  their  cost.  Between  Utica  and 
Franklin  there  was  no  bridge,  and  my  examination  was 
confined  to  the  north  side  of  the  creek.  On  the  opposite 
bank,  however,  it  was  too  plain  that  four-fifths  of  the 
works  had  been  doing  nothing  for  some  time.  That  por 
tion  of  this  chapter  relating  to  details  along  French  Creek 
will  be  found  less  full  and  satisfactory  than  I  could  desire. 

The  Dale  Oil  Works  is  the  name  of  a  neat  refinery  about 
one  mile  above  Franklin,  on  the  north  side  of  French 
Creek.  Went  into  operation  in  the  autumn  of  1864.  Num 
ber  of  stills,  two ;  capacity  of  works,  three  hundred  and 
fifty  barrels  per  week. 

SUGAR  GREEK 

is  a  tributary  of  French  Creek,  into  which  it  enters  from 
the  north.  It  is  too  large  a  stream  to  be  easily  forded, 


Statistics  of  Production. 

and  the  bridge  near  its  mouth  had  been  swept  away  by 
the  flood,  so  that  crossing  on  foot  had  to  be  performed  by 
means  of  trees  thrown  down  in  wild-cat  fashion.  This 
stream  also  parts  in  twain,  the  forks  taking  their  rise  in 
the  plateau  beyond  Corry.  Between  the  mouth  of  Sugar 
Creek  and  Coopertown — five  and  a  half  miles — about 
twenty-five  derricks  are  already  up  or  rising,  but  at  these 
only  one  well  has  been  thoroughly  tested.  It  is  two  miles 
up-stream,  and  has  yielded  as  much  as  thirty-five  barrels 
a  day  for  a  month  in  succession ;  but  through  derange 
ments  to  the  machinery,  it  is  supposed  the  last  month's 
average  did  not  exceed  fifteen  barrels.  The  well  was 
struck  about  January  last.  The  article  is  best  quality  of 
lubricating  oil,  of  thirty-two  gravity.  The  effect  of  this 
fine  strike  has  been  to  enhance  largely  the  price  of  real 
estate  along  the  valley.  One  farmer,  close  by,  refused  an 
offer  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  eighty 
acres,  about  half-bottom  lands.  A  report,  since  my  visit, 
is  spread  that  a  new  well  has  been  struck  close  by,  and 
this  is  impelling  a  wave  of  speculation  into  that  secluded 
and  pleasant  neighborhood.  It  is  reported  that  lands  are 
changing  ownership  as  far  as  ten  miles  up.  Probably  one 
hundred  new  wells  will  be  opened  on  that  creek  before 
the  close  of  1865  ;  a  number  of  old  ones  will  also  be  bur 
nished  up  anew  or  sunk  deeper. 

FRANKLIN. 

The  wells  in  Franklin  have  all  the  characteristics  of 
those  on  French  Creek.  Only  a  few  of  them  are  now  in 
operation,  but  the  greater  number  would  appear  to  have 
paid  for  themselves,  and  a  few  handsomely. 

Lambertori' }s  Well  has  been  in  operation  nearly  four 


Statistics  of  Production.  165 

years.  Yields  three  and  a  half  to  four  barrels  per  day. 
Owned  by  Chicago  and  Alleghany  Oil  Company. 

IngaWs  Well,  (Caledonian.) — Idle  at  present.  Yielded 
three  to  three  and  a  half  barrels  a  day,  when  stopped. 

Star  Well. — Yielded  about  same  quantity.  Operated 
about  one  year  after  opening  in  1860.  Stopped.  Leased 
to  another  party,  but  with  no  good  result. 

Cairns'  Well. — Nothing  done  for  two  years,  but  test 
ing  with  a  view  to  resuming  operations.  Sunk  in  1859. 

Cooper  Well. — Old  concern  also.  Owned  by  a  company 
in  Franklin.  At  one  time  pumped  three  to  four  barrels 
per  day. 

Dale  Well. — Another  of  the  ancients.  Gave  two  to 
three  barrels  per  day  for  a  while.  Upper  works  carried 
away  by  freshet. 

Mammoth  Well. — At  first  flowed  eleven  barrels  per 
day,  but  fell  down  to  four.  Been  idle  for  some  time  be 
fore  flood,  when  its  works  were  carried  off. 

Evans  Well. — Belongs  to  Moseley  &  Company,  new 
owners.  At  first,  yielded  forty  barrels  a  day,  which  turn 
ed  the  head  of  one  fair  damsel.  Yield  has  since  declined 
to  five  barrels.  In  1861,  operations  were  suspended,  and 
the  well  remained  idle  until  last  winter. 

Broomstick  Wells. — Belong  to  Forest  Shade  Oil  Com 
pany  of  Philadelphia.  Two  in  number.  Are  about  four 
years  old,  and  yield  four  to  five  barrels  a  day  each. 

Bonndl  Well. — Leased  by  Moseley  &  Company.  Old 
concern.  Deepened,  abandoned,  recommenced,  and  now 
deepening  a  second  time.  Indications  pronounced  good. 

Besides  these  are  about  half  a  dozen  old  concerns  thrown 
up,  whose  history  and  production  could  not  be  ascertained. 
Most  of  the  wells  put  down  during  the  early  stages  of  the 


166  Statistics  of  Production. 

oil-fever  are  in  the  upper  part  of  the  borough.  At  the 
lower  extremity  are  several  new  ones,  of  which  particulars 
may  be  found  elsewhere. 

THE  ALLEG-HANY,   BELOW  FRANKLIN",    EAST  SIDE. 

My  examination  of  the  Lower  Alleghany  valley  ex 
tended  to  East-Sandy  Creek,  and  some  distance  up  and 
beyond  it.  The  following  summary  of  wells  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river  will  be  interesting :  Abandoned,  eight ; 
idle,  temporarily,  twenty-four ;  active,  thirteen ;  in  prog 
ress,  as  many  by  the  river,  and  (probably)  fifty  more  on 
Two-Mile  Kun  and  East-Sandy.  Beyond  the  mouth  of 
East-Sandy,  I  could  not  learn  that  there  was  more  than 
one  well  in  operation  which  yielded  oil  in  paying  quan 
tity.  Both  old  and  new  derricks,  however,  may  be  seen 
for  some  distance  further.  On  both  sides,  the  river-banks 
are  steep,  lofty,  and  close  to  the  Alleghany. 

The  quality  obtained  is  first-class  illuminating-oil,  the 
lubricating  kind  not  "  cropping  out"  below  Franklin ; 
though  it  does  for  a  short  distance  above,  along  the  great 
river.  Crossing  on  the  fine  suspension-bridge,  we  first 
find- 

John  H.  Leds  Well. — Opened  in  March,  about  four 
weeks  before  visit.  Flowed  at  first  over  two  hundred  bar 
rels  per  day,  but  this  gradually  subsided,  and  owner  took 
to  pumping.  Present  yield,  twenty  barrels  daily,  working 
twelve  hours,  Was  idle  at  the  time  for  lack  of  facilities  to 
carry  off  the  oil.  Tank  filled.  Depth  of  well,  four  hun 
dred  and  forty-eight  feet. 

On  some  wells  close  by  the  Lee,  preparations  for  an 
active  campaign  are  going  forward,  with  fair  prospects  in 
some.  Along  the  bottoms,  for  some  distance  beyond,  are 


Statistics  of  Production.  167 

numerous  wrecks  and  other  "  indications"  of  damage  by 
the  great  freshet.  One  well  has  been  filled  up  with  mud 
and  is  useless.  One  has  tools  fast  in  bottom,  after  pump 
ing  twenty-five  barrels  per  day  for  a  time. 

Two- Mile  Run. — Judging  from  appearances  at  its  low 
er  end  and  the  reports  of  others,  I  estimate  the  total 
number  of  wells  in  progress  on  this  stream  at  twenty  or 
twenty-five,  of  which  only  one  has  been  tested.  Said  to 
yield  three  or  four  barrels  per  day,  and  on  the  increase. 

MEM. — This  brook  must  not  be  confounded  with  a  Two- 
Mile  Kun  which  enters  the  Alleghany  the  same  distance 
above  Franklin,  and  from  the  opposite  side. 

Keystone  Well. — On  Cochrane  farm.  Put  down  about 
two  years  ago.  At  first  yielded  about  seventy  barrels  per 
day,  but  gradually  fell  off  to  twelve,  when  the  floods  came 
and  the  winds  blew  and  beat  upon  that  well  and  filled 
it  up. 

Williams  andMoyer  Well. — In  operation.  Has  pump 
ed  six  to  eight  barrels  per  day  for  a  short  time. 

Dale  and  Morrow  Wells. — Two  in  number.  Pump 
about  thirteen  barrels  per  day  in  all.  One  has  been  going 
two  years  ;  the  other  eight  or  nine  months.  Proprietors 
sinking  others  along  the  bluff. 

Painter  Well. — In  operation  five  weeks.  Yields  two 
barrels  per  day — never  more  than  three.  Has  passed  as  a 
fifteen -barrel  well. 

Pennsylvania  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Four  in  number. 
Two  have  yielded  three  or  four  barrels  each ;  the  others 
not  yet  tested. 

Alleghany  and  East-Sandy  Oil  Company's  Wells. — 
Two  old  concerns,  sinking  deeper. 

Island  Well. — Said  to  be  giving  from  twelve  to  fifteen 


168  Statistics  of  Production. 

barrels  per  day.     I  credit  the  estimate  as  not  beyond  the 
mark. 

Robertson  Mining  and  Oil  Company }s  Wells. — No.  One 
yields  eight  to  nine  barrels  per  day.  Four  others  give 
average  of  one  barrel  per  day  each.  No.  Two  gives  two 
barrels.  Aggregate  yield,  when  going,  about  fifteen  bar 
rels.  For  lack  of  fuel,  all  were  standing  idle.  Plenty  of 
cord-wood  close  by.  Some  of  these  wells  belong  to  the 
early  period. 

Greenhill  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Three  in  number. 
Two  of  them  new.  Old  one  yields  one  to  one  and  a  half 
barrels  per  day.  Others  not  thoroughly  tested,  but  one 
promises  fairly.  All  pumped  "  by  head" — two  or  three 
hours  per  day.  Depth,  about  four  hundred  and  forty  feet, 
but  to  be  sunk  deeper.  General  depth  on  Lower  Alle- 
ghany,  from  five  hundred  to  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

Sunbury  (or  Sonsberry)  Oil  Company.  —  Five  wells 
sunk,  and  one  in  progress.  No.  One,  sold  lately  as  an 
eight-barrel  well,  yields  one  to  one  and  a  half.  Prospect 
well  gives  three  barrels.  Smoky  City,  three  barrels  ;  Heid 
elberg,  eight  to  ten,  but  now  idle ;  Kendrick  well,  prob 
ably  ten.  The  last  at  one  time  yielded  one  hundred  bar 
rels  daily.  All  have  been  two  or  three  years  in  operation. 
Not  pumped  steadily. 

MEM. — One  of  those  wells,  formerly  known  as  the  Blake- 
ley,  was  lately  sold  for  twenty  thousand  dollars,  as  an  eight- 
barrel  well,  the  average  yield  being  about  one  ! 

Crozier  Oil  Company's  Well. — Idle,  tools  having  stuck 
fast.  Pumped  oil,  but  not  in  paying  quantity.  Depth, 
six  hundred  and  fifteen  feet.  Talk  of  going  still  further 
down. 

Hope  Well.— Belongs  to  Superior  Oil  Company  of  Pitts- 


Statistics  of  Production.  169 

burgh.  Sunk  in  1861,  and  deepened  last  year  to  nearly 
eight  hundred  feet.  Yield  estimated  at  four  barrels  per 
day,  before  the  flood.  Filled  up  with  mud.  Well  to  be 
re-reamed  and  widened. 

Porter  Farm  Oil  Company's  Wells.  —  Morris  well 
abandoned.  Engine  said  to  have  blown  up  after  testing. 
Probably  remains  idle  because  the  spring  did  not  blow  up. 
Yielded  oil,  but  quantity  unknown.  JVo.  Four  testing, 
with  good  show,  at  depth  of  three  hundred  and  fifteen  feet. 
Another  stopped  up  and  wrecked  by  freshet.  Another 
sunk  over  six  hundred  feet.  Obtained  oil,  but  in  insuf 
ficient  quantity,  and  tunnel  to  be  extended  toward  "  China." 

EAST-SANDY  CKEEK. — Enters  Alleghany  Eiver  from 
east  side,  six  miles  below  Franklin.  Current  quite  violent, 
and  stream  one  hundred  feet  wide  at  its  mouth.  Bridge 
swept  away,  and  "  Charon"  charges  ten  cents  for  ferrying 
across.  Two  wells  tested  on  the  lower  three  miles  of  its 
course,  namely  : 

Adamantine  Oil  Company's  Well,  No.  Two. — Sunk 
four  hundred  and  fifteen  feet,  when  tools  got  fast. 

Soft  Maple  Well. — Owned  by  same  company.  Depth, 
four  hundred  and  twenty-seven  feet.  Has  been  two  months 
in  operation.  At  first,  pumped  one  hundred  and  fifty  bar 
rels  per  day ;  now  gives  eighteen  barrels,  and  keeping 
steady.  Tubing  said  to  be  somewhat  out  of  order. 

Keystone  Well. — About  three  miles  up  creek.  Yields 
one  barrel  per  day,  but  quantity  reported  at  four  or  five. 
Facts  learned  from  a  source  deemed  trustworthy. 

One  well  on  East-Sandy  has  been  sunk  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  feet,  without  finding  oil,  except  a  small  show  at 
the  depth  of  three  hundred  and  forty  feet.     From  fifteen 
to  twenty  are  in  progress  on  the  creek. 
8 


170  Statistics  of  Production. 

One  well,  lower  down  the  Alleghany,  on  same  side,  sunk 
six  hundred  and  twenty-eight  feet,  yields  eight  barrels 
per  day.  Formerly  owned  by  Iron  City  Oil  Company. 
Present  owner's  name  unknown  to  my  informant. 

LOWER  ALLEGHANY — WEST   SIDE. 

Starting  from  the  mouth  of  West-Sandy  Creek,  we  have, 
on  the  Miller  farm,  two  wells  pumping  about  four  barrels 
each.  Two  others  going  down.  On  the  Foster  farm  no 
wells  producing  oil.  Three  in  progress. 

Excelsior  (N".  Y.)  Oil  Company* s  Wells. — Situated  on 
the  D.  Smith  farm.  Three  fully  tested  and  one  sinking. 
No.  One  pumps  six  to  eight  barrels  per  day.  Another 
gives  three  to  five  barrels,  with  average  of  four.  A  third 
was  yielding  ten  barrels  before,  in  making  repairs,  the 
tools  stuck  fast.  Is  not  now  paying  expenses.  A  fourth 
in  progress. 

Hu~bbs  Well. — Now  idle.  Sold  as  a  sixteen-barrel  well 
last  fall.  Yielded  about  twelve  barrels,  when  stopped. 

MEM. — Many  of  the  wells  below  Franklin  were  sunk 
in  1860  and  abandoned  afterward,  when  oil  sunk  in  price 
to  an  unremunerative  point. 

Excelsior  (Philadelphia)  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Two 
in  number.  One  yields  two  or  three  barrels  daily.  The 
other  is  in  progress. 

Overton  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Two,  both  leased  from 
Excelsior  Company.  One  yields  two  and  a  half  barrels 
daily  ;  other  re-tubing.  Is  known  as  the  Childs  well. 
Used  to  give  five  or  six  barrels.  Depth,  four  hundred  and 
sixty-seven  feet.  Been  in  operation  four  years.  A  third 
well  in  progress. 

Steppy  Farm  Well. — Put  down  in  1859.     Yields  one 


Statistics  of  Production.  171 

and  a  half  barrels  per  day.  Flows  a  little  at  times.  Has 
not  been  regularly  operated  lately. 

MEM. — Two  wells  in  progress  ;  one,  belonging  to  a 
Pittsburgh  interest,  with  good  show  at  five  hundred  and 
eighty  feet.  Three  others  sunk  and  now  idle.  One  gave 
about  a  barrel  daily.  Others  had  yielded  oil,  but  were 
thrown  up.  One  was  sunk  only  two  hundred  feet.  Be 
long  to  Pope  Farm  Oil  Company. 

Organic  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Two  in  number,  each 
pumped  two  years,  "  by  head,"  about  one  barrel  per  day. 
Both  idle.  Depth,  five  hundred  and  six  hundred  feet. 

Thompson  Well. — Owned  by  Pope  Farm  Oil  Company. 
Depth,  five  hundred  and  forty  feet.  Opened  four  years 
since,  but  never  tubed  till  last  fall.  Pumped  for  a  time 
ten  barrels,  but  has  fallen  off  to  six  barrels  in  twenty-four 
hours. 

Ravine  Well.  —  Also  on  Pope  farm.  Sunk  in  1860. 
Depth,  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Before  stopping,  yield 
ed  about  five  barrels  per  day.  Has  not  been  running  for 
some  time. 

Blakeley  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Two  in  number.  Both 
in  progress.  One  is  sunk  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

Dr.  Pancostfs  Well. — Now  idle.  Produced  six  barrels 
per  day  some  time  since. 

Harvey  Evans's  Well. — On  Hoover  farm.  Gave  three 
barrels  per  day  before  stopping,  last  winter. 

Passed. five  works.  One  wrecked  by  flood.  One  tested, 
but  gave  nothing.  Others  untested. 

James  Grahame's  Well. — Damaged  by  flood.  Flowed 
three  barrels  per  day  at  one  time ;  now,  one  and  a  half. 
Above  this  are  four  wells  in  progress. 

Dime  Well.  —  Pumps  six  barrels  per  day.     Used  to 


172  Statistics  of  Production. 

give  ten.  Four  years  old,  and  seven  hundred  feet  deep. 
Most  of  the  oil  got  at  four  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  in  the 
second  rock. 

Apollo  Well. — Running  four  years,  and  four  hundred 
and  forty  feet  deep.  Stopped  from  1862  till  last  year. 
At  first  gave  twenty -five  barrels  per  day,  but  declined  to 
zero.  Re-tubed,  and  lately  yielding  ten  barrels.  When 
visited,  was  idle  for  lack  of  fuel.  Four  wells  in  progress 
immediately  above. 

Buyer  Oil  Company's  Well. — Pumps  two  barrels  per 
day  by  head.  Depth,  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Sunk 
in  1864.  Never  yielded  much.  Been  rather  improved 
by  re-tubing. 

Hoover  and  Marshal  Well. — Depth,  four  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  Four  or  five  years  old.  At  first  gave  twenty- 
five  barrels  per  day.  Now  pumps  from  eight  to  fifteen, 
with  average  about  twelve. 

Catfish  Well. — Is  pumped  by  head,  (a  few  hours  daily.) 
Actual  yield,  four  and  a  half  barrels  per  day.  In  opera 
tion  nearly  two  years.  Depth,  four  hundred  and  forty 
feet.  At  first,  gave  eighty  barrels.  One  other  well  in  prog 
ress  on  lot. 

Rhinehardt  Well.  —  Sunk  nearly  three  years  since. 
Gave  two  hundred  barrels  per  day  at  first.  Lately  pumped 
twenty -five  barrels.  Now  re-tubing.  Has  been  most 
productive  on  that  side  of  river  below  Franklin. 

Hoover  and  Marshal  Well,  No.  — . — Pumps  about 
twenty  barrels  per  day.  Another,  belonging  to  same 
company,  idle,  having  lost  tools  in  bottom.  Did  yield 
oil,  but  statistics  unknown. 

MEM. — Every  well  tested  on  the  Hoover  farm  is  said  to 


Statistics  of  Production.  173 

have  yielded  some  petroleum.     The  present  owners  charge 
a  royalty  of  one-half  the  oil  from  lessees. 

Hemlock  Well. — On  Lee  farm.  Gave  twenty  barrels 
per  day  at  first ;  pumped  two  or  three  barrels  lately.  Out 
of  order.  MEM. — On  the  lower  part  of  this  farm  are  three 
idle  wells,  one  apparently  thrown  up. 

Old  Lee  Well,  and  another  adjoining  it,  belong  to  a 
Boston  company.  Both  productive,  but  idle,  undergoing 
repairs.  Former  rated  at  twenty-five,  latter  at  seven  bar 
rels  per  day,  when  in  operation. 

Suffolk  and  Venango  County  Company's  Wells. — Two 
in  number.  Can  be  made  to  yield  fifty  barrels  per  day, 
when  in  proper  order.  Estimate  somewhat  vague.  Learn 
that  actual  yield  of  one  has  been  twelve  to  fourteen  bar 
rels  ;  of  the  other,  five  to  seven  barrels  daily. 

Honeycomb  Company '$  Well.  —  Also  on  Lee  farm. 
Flowing  thirty-five  to  sixty  barrels  a  day.  Average  be 
lieved  to  be  nearly  forty.  Six  months  in  operation. 
Keeps  steadily  up  in  yield.  Depth,  four  hundred  and 
fifty-five  feet. 

Wallace's  Well. — Upper  works  swept  away.  Was 
yielding  seven  barrels  daily  before  the  flood. 

Sprogel  <&  Co.'s  Well. — Depth,  four  hundred  and  fifty 
feet.  Average  yield  for  year,  five  barrels  per  day.  Is 
eighteen  months  old,  and  now  known  as  Alleghany  Com 
pany  No.  Two  well. 

Alleghany  Company's  Well,  JVo.  One. — A  two  barrel 
concern.  In  operation  over  two  years. 

Westminster  Well. — A  one-barrel  spring.  Six  months 
in  operation.  Two  others  were  sinking.  Both  damaged 
by  flood  and  now  idle. 

Eureka  Well. — On  Morrison  farm,  a  short  distance  be- 


174  Statistics  of  Production. 

low  Franklin.  Old  work  re-reamed.  Preparing  to  start 
anew. 

Passed  three  wells  idle  and  seemingly  abandoned. 
Two  of  them  yielded  about  three  barrels  a  day  each  ;  the 
other,  nothing.  Three  other  wells  in  progress. 

Thomas  Well.  —  Bought  as  a  thirty -barrel  concern. 
Keport  of  its  having  been  fed  from  a  tank  on  the  sly  pro 
nounced  false.  Pumps  about  two  barrels  per  day.  An 
old  work,  and  never  of  much  account. 

Passed  six  more  wells  sinking,  and  entered  Franklin. 
The  journey  altogether  the  roughest  and  toughest  I  had 
then  undertaken.  The  river  was  high,  and  no  road  ex 
isted  save  a  goat's  path  between  the  precipice  and  the 
flood.  So  it  is  likely  to  continue. 

ALLEGHANY  RIVER — FRANKLIN  TO   OIL   CITY. 

The  distance  between  those  points  has  been  increased  a 
full  mile  by  the  destruction  of  the  lower  bridge  across 
French  Creek.  On  the  lower  end  of  this  creek,  passed 
seven  wells  in  progress,  two  abandoned,  and  one  wrecked. 

Stock  Well. — On  the  Alleghany.  Pumps  seven  barrels 
per  day  best  quality  lubricating  oil.  Gravity  said  to  be 
twenty-eight.  Depth,  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet. 

Martin  Well. — Pumps  five  barrels  per  day  of  same 
quality  and  at  same  depth.  Both  wells  over  four  years  in 
operation. 

Passed  two  wells,  said  to  have  been  abandoned  when 
oil  was  low,  though  yielding  tolerably.  Leases  expired, 
and  property  reverted  to  owner — a  matter  of  quite  fre 
quent  occurrence  under  the  old  dispensation.  Counted 
eleven  more  works,  with  or  without  derricks,  all  seemingly 
given  up. 


Statistics  of  Production.  175 

Enterprise  Oil  Company's  Wells. — A  Pittsburgh  inter 
est.  Before  the  flood,  No.  One  was  yielding  five  barrels 
per  day.  No.  Two,  about  four  barrels.  Both  seriously 
damaged,  but  preparing  to  resume.  Three  or  four  years 
in  operation. 

Plumer  Refinery. — Belongs  to  a  New- York  interest. 
Expected  to  go  into  operation  shortly.  One  well  on 
premises  idle.  Some  others  to  be  put  down. 

United  Farm  Company. — Own  large  tract  of  bottom 
land  below  the  mouth  of  Two-Mile  Eun,  above  Franklin 
and  on  west  side  of  river.  Have  leased  lots  to  several  in 
terests.  Twelve  new  derricks  already  erected  this  season, 
and  about  thirty  new  wells  expected  to  be  sunk.  Flat 
greatly  damaged  by  freshet,  and  all  the  old  works  sus 
pended.  It  is  said  that  none  of  these  were  fairly  tested  ; 
hence  the  yield  was  unsatisfactory. 

On  Two-Mile  Eun. — One  old  well  bored  out  again 
with  fine  appearance,  as  reported.  On  that  little  stream, 
one  hundred  wells  supposed  to  be  sunk  or  sinking.  Such 
estimates  are  usually  exaggerated  one-half,  by  mistake. 

Powell  Oil  and  Coal  Company. — Own  six  wells  in 
progress  on  Shirk  farm.  Most  of  these  bored  three  or 
four  years  agok  but  now  deepening.  In  some,  a  good 
show  reported. 

Frankford  Oil  Company 's  Wells. — Three  in  number. 
Two  idle ;  one  pumps  average  of  sixty  barrels  per  day. 
Opened  on  first  of  March.  Is  situated  about  midway  be 
tween  Franklin  and  Oil  City  ;  and  if  the  figures  only  keep 
on  thus,  will  make  princely  fortunes.  Another  well,  be 
longing  to  same  company,  drips  one  barrel  per  day. 
Upper  works  of  a  third  were  swept  away.  Discharge 
from  the  oig  well  is  equal  to  a  stream  of  two  hundred  bar- 


176  Statistics  of  Production. 

rels  per  day ;  but  when  visited,  nine  tenths  of  it  seemed 
to  be  water.  Workmen  say,  at  times  it  is  nearly  pure 
petroleum.  ISTo  regularity  of  flow.  Depth,  five  hundred 
and  thirty  feet. 

Pembroke  Oil  Company's  Wells,  JVo.  One.  —  Yields 
about  five  barrels  per  day.  Been  keeping  up  to  that  figure 
two  years.  Depth,  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  Com 
pany  have  four  more  under  way — one  tested,  but  not  pro 
ducing  oil. 

Within  the  space  of  a  mile  above  these  occur  seven 
wells,  four  of  them  wrecked,  one  standing  idle,  one  in 
progress,  one  just  tested  and  said  to  be  producing. 

At  Reno  Station,  on  the  railroad,  are  three  refineries — 
E.  W.  Shippen's,  Kincaid,  Lock  wood  &  Co.'s,  and  Ward 
&  Lockwood's.  The  largest  has  four  stills  and  a  capa 
city  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  barrels  per  week.  One 
has  abandoned  the  refining  of  illuminating  oil  as  un 
profitable,  and  taken  to  the  lubricating  kind  only. 

Howe  <&  Eddy  Oil  Company's  Wells. — Three  owned 
and  three  leased.  Only  one  going,  with  average  yield  of 
two  barrels  per  day.  Another  pumped  three  barrels 
before  freshet. 

Kifer  Elliott  Well. — Just  opened.  Appearance  and 
prospect  considered  good.  Pumped  at  rate  of  twenty  bar 
rels  per  day  for  short  time.  Depth,  four  hundred  and  ten 
feet. 

Between  that  point  and  the  outskirts  of  Oil  City — about 
a  mile — counted  twenty-two  wells,  only  four  of  which 
were  going  or  testing.  Eight  were  idle  and  ten  sinking. 
None  of  those  yielding  gave  over  three  barrels  per  day. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  between  Oil  City  and 
Franklin  observed  about  forty  derricks,  of  which  nearly 


Statistics  of  Production.  177 

one-half  had  been  recently  erected.  "Wells  unfinished, 
and  at  many  no  progress.  Only  three  or  four  were  actu 
ally  producing  oil.  Statistics  not  learned,  but  never 
heard  that  section  of  Petrolia  referred  to  as  having  aught 
worth  visiting.  No  regular  means  of  crossing. 

OIL   CITY. 

Chris  Kringle  Well.  —  Going  since  last  Christmas, 
when  yield  was  thirty  barrels  per  day.  Now  pumps 
twenty  barrels,  according  to  ofncial  estimate.  When  vis 
ited,  was  discharging  gas  copiously,  but  no  oil.  Some 
good  wells  are  in  the  habit  of  indulging  in  such  pranks 
before  strangers.  Depth,  five  hundred  and  fifty-five  feet. 

Oil  City  Petroleum  Refinery. — Capacity  of  works  no 
ticed  elsewhere.  Company  have  two  wells  in  progress. 
Another  refinery  stands  close  by. 

Harper  Farm  Well. — Pumped  eight  or  nine  barrels  per 
day  for  past  week.  Old  concern,  deepened  to  five  hun 
dred  feet. 

Sweeney  Well. — Official  report  of  yield,  twenty  barrels 
per  day.  Others  say  from  eight  to  ten.  I  incline  to  the 
latter  estimate.  An  old  well,  deepened  to  five  hundred 
and  forty  feet.  Been  three  months  at  work  since  reopen 
ing. 

Shirk  Well. — Tested  only  a  few  days.  Flowed  at  first 
thirty -six  barrels  per  day.  Since  the  flood,  average  yield 
not  above  ten  or  twelve,  got  by  pumping. 

Old  Glyde  Well. — Belongs  to  Harper  Farm  Company. 
Been  going  two  years,  and  now  yields  three  barrels  per 
day. 

Linden  Well. — Noted  as  a  flowing  well.  Until  recent- 
8* 


178  Statistics  of  Production. 

ly,  yielded  ten  barrels  per  day.  Ke- tubing  at  time  of 
visit. 

Glyde  Well^  No.  1. — New  concern.  Pumped  five  bar 
rels  first  half  day.  Appearance  good. 

In  that  part  of  Oil  City  below  the  creek,  are  about  thirty 
wells  in  progress,  some  in  the  ravine  between  the  heights, 
but  the  greater  number  between  the  street  and  the  river. 
Two  or  three  old  works  are  also  being  deepened  and 
burnished  up  anew. 

THE  ALLEGHANY  VALLEY — ABOVE   OIL  CITY. 

My  explorations  of  that  part  of  the  Alleghany  valley 
between  Oil  City  and  Irvine  (fifty  miles)  were  conducted 
partly  on  foot,  partly  by  skiff  or  raft,  and  the  residue  by 
steamer.  Among  the  several  modes  of  conveyance  in 
Petrolia,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  characterize  the  steamer 
"  Advance,"  as  furnishing  the  most  costly  and  uncomfort 
able.  In  charging  as  fare  three  dollars  for  twenty  miles  j 
in  dirt,  discomfort,  package,  discourtesy,  noise,  to  say 
nothing  of  indigestible  viands,  it  may  suffice  to  say  that 
all  was  of  a  piece.  Even  the  time  lost  in  waiting  till  the 
wind  lowered,  (!)  and  afterward  at  landings,  was  such, 
that  the  whole  distance  could  have  been  easily  walked  in 
the  same  time. 

On  the  line  of  Spring  Creek,  and  on  that  of  the  Broken- 
straw,  into  which  the  former  discharges,  there  is  little 
doing  in  searching  for  petroleum,  the  number  of  derricks 
visible  from  the  railroad  being  barely  half  a  dozen,  be 
tween  Corry  and  Irvine.  The  proprietor  of  the  flats  at 
Irvine  is  said  to  have  set  his  face  fixedly  against  any  dese 
cration  of  them  by  boring  for  oil ;  hence  the  derrick  does 
not  obtrude  its  gaunt  visage  thereabouts.  It  is  only  on  ap- 


Statistics  of  Production.  179 

preaching  the  village  of  TIDEOUTE,  fourteen  miles  down 
the  Alleghany,  that  the  stranger  finds  himself  once  more 
within  Petrolia.  The  principal  works  there  are  the — 

Economy  Wells. — These  belong  to  an  association  of 
Christians  known  as  Eappists  or  Communists,  established 
on  the  common-property  principle,  which  distinguished 
the  apostolic  church  in  Jerusalem.  More  than  half  a 
century  ago,  a  society  of  Germans  migrated  to  the  United 
States,  and  founded  the  village  of  Economy  on  the  Ohio 
River,  a  short  distance  below  Pittsburgh.  Subsequently 
they  removed  to  the  Wabash  valley  ;  but  returned  to  their 
old  settlement  on  the  Ohio,  where  they  still  remain,  own 
ing  property,  the  value  of  which  has  been  estimated  at 
the  round  sum  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  !  The  most  ob 
jectionable  feature  in  this  association  is  the  enforcement 
of  the  practice  of  celibacy,  as  practised  by  the  Shakers. 
Still,  its  ranks  are  recruited  from  the  outside  world,  until 
its  membership  counts  by  hundreds. 

The  way  this  society  came  to  be  concerned  in  petroleum 
operations  was  this :  They  had  lent  money  to  a  farmer  liv 
ing  near  Tideoute,  who  failed  to  fulfil  his  obligation  of 
payment ;  and  his  property  consequently  passed  into  the 
creditors'  possession.  About  that  time  the  developments 
on  Oil  Creek  began  to  attract  attention ;  and  as  springs  of 
petroleum  had  been  found  at  the  surface  on  their  proper 
ty,  the  society  decided  to  put  down  a  well  for  themselves. 
In  1861  the  first  was  sunk,  and  a  fine  quality  of  illumin 
ating  oil  struck,  at  the  depth  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  feet.  This  received  the  appellation  of  the  "  A  well," 
which  is  still  pumping  five  barrels  per  day,  (twenty-four 
hours,)  besides  supplying  gas  sufficient  to  keep  two  engines 
running.  "  B  well "  gave  feeble  indications  at  first ;  but 


180  Statistics  of  Production. 

gradually  improved,  and  now  pumps  from  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  barrels  per  day.  "  C  "  produces  about  fifteen  barrels 
in  the  same  time,  and  "  D,"  from  fifteen  to  twenty  barrels. 
In  none  of  the  last  three  has  there  been  lately  any  per 
ceptible  increase  or  decrease.  None  of  them  has  been 
sunk  over  one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet,  which  makes 
such  a  copious  and  continuous  yield  the  more  remarkable. 

At  one  time,  the  society  leased  the  property,  under  con 
ditions  deemed  favorable,  to  the  former  proprietor,  who, 
according  to  outside  reports,  held  his  grip  upon  it  till  the 
society  came  down  with  an  immense  sum  to  recover  posses 
sion,  while  the  works  went  to  wreck.  New  derricks,  en 
gines,  etc.,  have  since  been  erected,  together  with  an  excel 
lent  boarding-house,  whose  arrangements  are  unquestiona 
bly  the  best  in  all  Petrolia.  The  restrictions  placed  upon 
employes,  however,  in  regard  to  speech  and  manners,  have 
made  the  proprietors  somewhat  unpopular  as  employers ; 
and  many  prefer  to  seek  employment  where  they  "can 
blow  off  steam,"  without  meeting  a  printed  rule  or  other 
restriction  upon  their  language  or  demeanor. 

The  lands  belonging  to  this  association  on  the  Alle- 
ghany  comprise  eight  thousand  acres,  extending  back  a 
long  distance  from  the  river,  and  having  an  extensive 

water-front.     Much  of  this  tract  is  covered  with  a  heavv 

«/ 

growth  of  timber,  almost  as  valuable  as  petroleum  these 
days.  A  saw-mill  and  a  flouring-mill,  driven  by  steam, 
have  been  erected  on  the  uplands.  A  railroad  is  also  in 
contemplation,  to  connect  their  various  works  along  the 
river  with  a  landing.  Arrangements  are  in  progress  to 
put  down  ten  or  twelve  new  wells  the  present  season,  on 
spots  where  good  indications  are  said  to  exist. 

For  the  information  of  the  curious,  it  may  be  proper  to 


Statistics  of  Production.  181 

add  that  no  part  of  this  property  is  either  for  sale  or  to 
let.  Land  speculators  and  persons  engaged  in  getting  up 
oil  companies  may,  therefore,  as  well  give  it  a  wide  berth 
in  their  searches  after  "  first-class  territory." 

Those  who  delight  to  trace  every  unusual  event  or  phe 
nomenon  to  "  special  providences  "  may  here  find  profita 
ble  matter  for  reflection.  "Why  should  the  only  good 
tract  on  that  side  of  the  river,  along  that  part  of  its  course, 
and  one  which  has  produced  the  most  enduring  springs 
in  the  country,  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  an  associa 
tion  having  "  all  things  common  "  ? 

Below  the  Economy  wells  are  half  a  dozen  idle  works, 
most  of  which  appear  to  have  been  thrown  up  altogether. 
One  of  them,  known  as  the  Eawlson  well,  belongs  to  a 
Philadelphia  company,  which  had  it  sunk  to  the  depth  of 
one  thousand  feet,  without  finding  any  oil  worth  mention. 
Only  one  of  the  whole  number  is  estimated  to  have  paid 
expenses.  The  Waters  &  Jackson  well  ran  seven  or 
eight  months,  in  1861,  and  gave  as  many  barrels  per  day. 
It  is  now  idle.  Three  of  them  flowed  for  a  few  weeks  at 
first. 

Hockmbwrgh  Well. — Named  after  a  clergyman  in  that 
neighborhood,  who  has  written  an  essay  on  the  all-ab 
sorbing  subject.  Pumped  about  ten  barrels  per  day  for 
nine  months,  in  1861 ;  then  shut  down.  Now  owned  by 
the  Tideoute  Bayou  Petroleum  Company,  of  New- York, 
and  yielding  five  or  six  barrels  per  day. 

G.  L  Stowe  Well.— Sunk  in  1860.  Yield,  four  or  five 
barrels  per  day  till  last  September,  since  which  has  been 
idle.  Depth,  one  hundred  and  forty  feet. 

Moore,  Blanche  &  Company's  Well. — Pumped  five  or 
six  barrels  per  day  until  lately.  Now  undergoing  re 
pairs. 


182  Statistics  of  Production. 

Towner  <&  Thompson  Well. — Pumps  four  to  five  bar- 
rels  per  day.  Some  alterations  going  on.  Tried  the 
blower,  but  unsuccessfully. 

About  eight  more  wells,  all  idle,  and  as  many  others  in 
progress,  are  on  the  east  side  of  the  Alleghany  at  Tide- 
oute.  Above  the  village  are  also  twelve  or  fifteen  aban 
doned  works,  not  having  been  going  for  some  years. 

On  the  opposite  side,  where  the  river  impinges  upon 
the  bluff,  counted  sixteen  new  derricks,  several  of  them 
perched  at  points  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  feet 
up  the  precipice.  Immediately  beneath  them  are  the  fol 
lowing  : 

Moser  Well.  —  Just  resuscitated  after  a  winter's  rest. 
Yields  six  barrels  per  day.  Sunk  four  or  five  years  ago. 

Rawlson  Well. — Pumps  eight  barrels  per  day.  Over 
four  years  old.  Depth,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

Gilson  Well. — Owned  by  Tompkins  County  and  Tide- 
oute  Oil  Company.  Pumps  thirty  barrels  per  day.  Open 
ed  last  Wednesday.  Has  increased  in  productiveness 
lately.  Depth,  one  hundred  and  forty-six  feet. 

Shaw  Well. — Pumped,  during  winter,  ten  barrels  per 
day,  to  best  of  informant's  knowledge.  Now  stopped  for 
repairs.  This  and  four  or  five  others  to  recommence 
shortly.  About  a  dozen  appear  to  be  abandoned  altoge 
ther. 

The  Tideoute  and  Warren  Oil  Company  own  most  of 
the  lands  in  that  part  of  the  village  or  its  suburbs.  They 
grant  leases  of  lots  for  fifty  per  cent  of  the  oil.  That 
locality  is  fast  following  the  example  of  Oil  City,  as  re 
spects  filth  and  disorder,  the  latter  place  being  the  unit  of 
measurement  for  the  whole  region. 

,     Below  Tideoute  passed  twelve  or  fifteen  derricks,  all 
old  and  inactive,  until  arriving  at 


Statistics  of  Production.  183 

HICKORY  CREEKS. 

These  are  three  in  number,  all  entering  the  river  with 
in  a  distance  of  two  miles.  The  highest  up  of  these  is 
East-Hickory,  at  the  mouth  of  which  is  a  good  landing, 
with  half  a  dozen  wells  in  different  stages  of  construction. 
One  of  them  is  reported  to  have  reached  the  depth  of 
four  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  where  a  good  show  was 
lately  had  in  the  sand-pump. 

Little  Hickory  enters  the  Alleghany  from  the  same 
side.  Five  or  six  wells  going  down  on  the  flat  at  its 
mouth ;  but  no  definite  result  had  been  obtained  at  the 
time  of  visiting. 

West-Hickory  enters  nearly  opposite  to  the  last-named, 
and  from  the  west  side.  All  have  dug  their  channels 
deeply  into  the  bluffs  ;  but  the  only  large  bottom  is  near 
the  last-named.  At  the  distance  of  barely  half  a  mile 
from  the  river  is 

Hickory  Flat  Well. — Oil  recently  struck  at  the  depth 
of  one  hundred  and  ten  feet.  Came  up  so  violently  as  to 
drive  away  the  workmen.  Has  been  flowing  at  the  rate 
of  one  hundred  and  seventy  barrels  per  day,  or  one  hun 
dred  and  ninety-six  barrels  in  twenty-five  hours,  as  ascer 
tained  by  actual  measurement.  Oil  said  to  be  finest  qual 
ity  lubricating  with  less  than  thirty  degrees  gravity.  The 
flow  is  steady,  and  the  stream  refreshing  to  behold,  ac 
companied  by  gas  in  moderate  quantity. 

The  success  of  this  well  has  given  a  powerful  impetus 
to  similar  enterprises  in  that  part  of  Petrolia.  Already 
much  the  larger  portion  of  the  land,  for  miles  above  and 
below,  has  changed  ownership.  One  farm  of  four  hun 
dred  acres  was  lately  sold  for  one  hundred  and  twenty- 


184  Statistics  of  Production. 

nine  thousand  dollars,  which  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  esti 
mate  of  price,  when  sold  in  large  quantities  and  near  the 
river.  It  is  said  that  a  speculator  recently  cleared  sixty- 
six  thousand  dollars  by  a  single  purchase.  Natural  oil- 
springs,  Mr.  Gr.  A.  Siggins  assures  me,  had  long  before 
been  observed  thereabouts,  and  occasional  rude  efforts 
been  made  by  the  residents  to  reach  them — in  one  case, 
by  means  of  a  drilling  apparatus  composed  of  a  bed-cord 
and  a  harrow-pin  !  The  Indians  had  a  reservation  close 
by,  which  they  inhabited  until  a  few  years  ago.  Con 
tiguous  to  this  well  are  aboriginal  remains  of  various 
kinds.  A  large  tree  of  a  wood  resembling  oak  (not  petri 
fied)  was  found  at  the  depth  of  forty-nine  feet  below  the 
surface,  after  drilling  through  a  bed  of  solid  rock. 

About  half  a  dozen  new  wells,  one  of  them  productive, 
were  under  way  along  West-Hickory,  at  the  time  of  visit 
ing.  Preparations  were  going  forward  for  extended  ope 
rations  during  the  summer,  and  that  valley  is  now  a 
favorite  of  those  who  are  in  search  of  new  "  territory." 

At  Dawson's  crossing,  lower  down  the  Alleghany,  two 
wells  are  in  progress,  one  having  reached  the  depth  of 
two  hundred  feet. 

At  TIONESTA,  an  incipient  village  at  the  mouth  of  Tio- 
nesta  Creek,  and  some  twenty  miles  above  Oil  City,  seven 
teen  derricks  have  been  erected  at  or  near  the  mouth  of 
that  stream.  One  well  has  been  sunk  to  the  depth  of 
seven  hundred  feet,  without  rinding  oil.  Two  or  three 
works  on  the  opposite  side,  but  with  no  better  success  as 
yet. 

Between  Tionesta  and  "Walnut  Bend,  fourteen  miles, 
my  inquiries  were  not  so  full  as  I  could  wish,  having 
been  made  only  at  those  points  where  the  steamer  stopped 


Statistics  of  Production.  185 

on  her  way  down.  The  residue  of  the  distance  to  Oil 
City  I  had  previously  traversed  on  foot. 

PRESIDENT  is  a  new  and  growing  village  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  with  a  capacious  hotel  and  store  as  the 
nucleus.  About  two  dozen  derricks  stand  on  the  gentle 
slope,  with  abundant  room  for  more.  Two  thirds  of  these 
works  are  unfinished.  One  well  only  was  pumping  oil, 
at  time  of  visit.  Said  to  be  yielding  freely,  but  figures 
not  obtainable.  A  passenger  dubbed  the  smaller  collec 
tion  of  houses,  etc.,  on  the  opposite  shore,  Face-President. 
The  next  point  of  interest  is  the  mouth  of  PITHOLE 
CREEK,  twelve  miles  above  Oil  City. 

Ewing  Well. — Pumps  fifteen  barrels  per  day.  Was 
lately  bought  as  a  twenty-barrel  well  by  the  Niagara 
Falls  and  Cherry  Eun  Oil  Company.  Been  four  years  in 
operation,  and  yields  steadily.  Oil  discharges  in  occa 
sional  spirts,  not  a  constant  stream.  Depth,  two  hundred 
and  ninety  feet.  Gravity,  forty-four. 

About  thirty  wells  have  been  sunk  near  the  mouth  of 
Pithole  Creek,  chiefly  along  the  Alleghany.  Of  these, 
only  one  is  now  in  operation.  Owners  are  generally  pre 
paring  to  deepen  them,  or  throw  them  up  altogether. 
Taking  both  sides  of  the  river  and  the  works  in  prog 
ress,  the  number  of  derricks  is  not  short  of  fifty.  Much 
activity  exists  at  the  landing,  and  it  is  fast  taking  posi 
tion  as  a  village. 

At  the  next  bend  below  counted  sixteen  derricks,  all 
idle  and  mostly  new.  Saturday  evening,  and  the  men 
may  have  quit  work. 

At  "Walnut  bend  are  nearly  as  many,  the  greater  por 
tion  finished  works,  and  some  quite  ancient,  as  men  reckon 
antiquity  in  Petrolia.  One  concern  at  work,  and  reported 


186  Statistics  of  Production. 

to  produce  finely — in  fact,  has  made  the  reputation  of 
that  place.  A  good  deal  of  activity  on  that  semi-circular 
headland  at  ordinary  times.  Is  on  east  side  of  the  Alle- 
ghany,  and  nearly  eight  miles  above  Oil  City.  On  the 
west  shore  are  the  following  wells  : 

Black  Diamond  Company 's  Wells.  —  Just  commenced 
drilling.  Situated  on  the  Kinstler  farm. 

El  Dorado  Company's  Well. — On  Conver  farm.  Depth, 
five  hundred  and  thirty-seven  feet.  Pumped  about  one 
barrel  per  day  until  lately.  Now  idle. 

Pacific  Oil  Company's  Wells. — On  same  farm.  One  is 
idle  with,  tools  fast ;  another  is  drilling.  Below  these  are 
two  wells  abandoned  and  two  new  derricks,  one  of  them 
belonging  to  the  United  States  Petroleum  Company.  No 
progress.  Next  two  works  (one  new)  damaged  by  flood  ; 
also  the  relics  of  one  burned,  which  belonged  to  the 
United  States  Petroleum  Company,  and  said  to  have 
yielded  thirty  barrels  per  day.  No  signs  of  activity  at 
any  of  these. 

Marshal  Well. — On  Tolles  farm.  Been  in  operation 
about  a  month,  and  pumping  thirty  to  forty  barrels  per 
day.  Depth,  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

Dr.  Kinter's  Well. — Has  been  pumped  nine  months,  giv 
ing  average  of  fifteen  barrels  per  day.  Depth,  three  hun 
dred  and  sixty  feet.  Owned  by  Alleghany  and  Walnut 
Bend  Oil  Company.  Another,  belonging  to  the  same 
company,  in  progress. 

Drummond  &  Arnold  Well. — On  Stiner  farm.  Yield 
ed  freely  for  a  year.  Exhausted,  and  deepened  without 
any  result,  and  then  abandoned.  Depth,  about  five  hun 
dred  feet. 


Statistics  of  Production.  187 

M.  B.  Brown's  Well. — In  progress.  Depth,  four  hun 
dred  and  sixty  feet.  Another  work  in  progress. 

Rathburn^  Lay  &  Company's  Wells. — On  Khenof  farm. 
Five  in  number.  One  sunk  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
two  feet.  Gave  no  oil  worth  mentioning.  One,  five  hun 
dred  and  thirty- three  feet,  with  like  result.  One  sunk 
last  year  yields  twenty-four  barrels  per  day,  on  average. 
Other  two  in  progress.  The  best  of  idle  works  yielded 
seven  barrels  daily  for  short  time,  but  fell  off. 

Cornwall  and  Titus  Wells.  —  Two  in  number.  One 
pumped  seven  barrels  per  day  for  three  or  four  months  ; 
the  other  did  rather  better.  Both  abandoned.  Depth 
respectively,  five  hundred  and  five  and  six  hundred  feet. 

Powhatan  Well. — On  Downie  farm.  Belongs  to  a  firm 
at  Kittaning,  Pa.  Sunk  two  hundred  feet  in  1861.  No 
oil.  Abandoned  and  now  deepening  to  five  hundred  feet. 

Ross  Oil  Company's  Wells. — One  is  two  or  three  years 
old.  Before  freshet  yielded  twelve  to  fifteen  barrels  per 
day.  Damaged  and  idle  at  visit.  Depth,  four  hundred 
and  fifty  feet.  Another  well  has  been  five  or  six  months 
in  operation.  Yields  about  ten  barrels  per  day.  Has  im 
proved  since  flood.  Depth,  four  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet.  A  third  gave  no  oil  and  was  abandoned. 

Clintock  Cornwall  Petroleum  and  Mining  Company. — 
Have  just  put  down  a  well  five  hundred  feet.  Only  wa 
ter  as  yet.  Four  old  wells  and  one  unfinished  close  by. 

Woody  Me  Williams  and  Company^  s  Wells. — On  lower 
Rhenof  farm.  Owned  by  a  New- York  interest.  Put 
down  in  1861,  but  neither  tested.  Depth,  about  four  hun 
dred  feet.  To  be  started  anew.  A  third,  put  down  same 
year,  yielded  irregularly  from  five  to  fifteen  barrels  per 


188  Statistics  of  Production. 

day.     Depth,  three  hundred  and  twenty  feet.     To  be  also 
resuscitated. 

Bollard  Well. — Pumps  twelve  barrels  per  day.  Sunk 
in  1861  to  depth  of  four  hundred  feet.  Another  well  of 
same  owners  never  tested. 

Horse  Creek  Eddy  Well. — Has  pumped  as  high  as  fifty 
barrels  daily,  with  average  of  twenty-five  barrels,  past 
year.  Opened  in  the  spring  of  1864,  and  now  in  opera 
tion.  Depth,  four  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  Belongs  to 
a  Pittsburgh  firm.  Another  well,  owned  by  same,  sunk 
in  1862  about  six  hundred  feet.  Averaged  fifteen  barrels 
per  day  for  one  year.  Now  idle. 

Humboldt  Oil  Company1  s  Wells. — A  New-York  concern, 
owning  part  of  the  Lamb  farm.  Eight  wells  completed. 
Three  unproductive.  Two  pump  twenty  barrels  each, 
two  thirty  barrels  each,  and  one  five  barrels  per  day. 
The  last  has  been  going  four  years.  Depth,  three  hun 
dred  and  ninety  feet.  All  productive  works  said  to  be  on 
the  increase.  Three  of  them  opened  the  last  six  months. 

Tarr  Homestead  Oil  Company's  Well.  —  Yields  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  barrels  per  day.  Been  in  operation 
nine  months,  with  no  decrease.  Depth,  four  hundred  and 
sixty -two  feet. 

Kincaid  Well.  —  Pumps  two  to  three  barrels  daily. 
Sunk  nearly  four  years  ago.  About  a  dozen  works  in 
progress  close  by,  mostly  inclining  toward  the  uplands. 
One,  newly  opened,  said  to  yield  seven  to  eight  barrels 
per  day.  Another  testing. 

Bradley  Bend  Wells. — Two  in  number  and  abandoned. 
For  few  weeks  last  summer  one  yielded  sixty  or  seventy 
barrels  per  day  ;  then  gave  out.  Depth  four  hundred 


Statistics  of  Production.  189 

feet.     Belongs  to  Carbon  Oil  Company  of  Philadelphia. 
The  second  well  yielded  little.     A  third  sinking. 

Sheridan  Well,  No.  1. — On  Lay  farm.  Opened  last  Feb 
ruary,  and  yields  twenty  to  twenty-five  barrels  per  day. 
Depth,  three  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet.  Owned  by  an 
Eastern  company.  Another  well  in  progress  with  good 
appearances  at  two  hundred  feet  deep. 

Wheeler  Wells. — On  Carey  (or  Curry)  farm.  Owned  by 
Rockford  Oil  Company  of  Philadelphia.  One  in  operation 
since.  1861.  Eanges  from  two  to  thirty-five  barrels  per 
day,  with  average  of  twenty.  Depth,  three  hundred  and 
twelve  feet.  No.  Two  is  idle.  To  be  deepened  and  re- 
reamed  out  to  depth  of  five  hundred  feet.  No.  Three 
starting.  No  oil  as  yet.  No.  Four  in  progress. 

Baltimore  Petroleum  Company's  Wells. — Ownership  of 
six,  on  Downing  farm,  said  to  be  divided  between  that 
company  and  a  Philadelphian.  "Works  sunk  three  or 
four  years  ago.  One  increased  from  five  to  ten  barrels 
per  day,  but  stopped  by  freshet ;  now  pumps  only  one 
and  a  half.  All  the  wells  understood  to  have  been  pro 
fitable  at  one  time  ;  but  need  to  be  burnished  up  and 
deepened. 

Alcorn  (or  Elkhorri)  Oil  Company's  Wells. — On  farm  of 
same  name.  One  begun  in  1860,  and  sunk  three  hun 
dred  feet.  No  oil.  Another  put  down  to  six  hundred 
with  like  results.  A  third,  also  unproductive,  is  being 
deepened.  Two  others  are  leased  to  a  Michigan  com 
pany,  who  are  sinking  further. 

Howard  Well. — Sunk  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet, 
and  going  down  to  seven  hundred.  Eeport  of  a  good 
show,  etc. 

Well  No.  Seven. — Also  on  Alcorn  tract.     Put  down  in 


190  Statistics  of  Production. 

1860,  and  yielded  two  to  seven  barrels  daily.   Engine  too 
weak. 

Oaswelly  Herbert  &  Company's  Well. — On  island  oppo 
site  Not  in  operation  since  flood.  Yielded  ten  to  fifteen 
barrels  a  day  before  freshet.  Now  sinking  deeper. 

Hilands  Oil  Company's  Well.  —  On  Siverly  farm.  In 
progress.  Thompson  Well. — Ditto.  Sunk  three  hundred 
and  fifty  feet.  Got  small  quantity  at  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  One  abandoned  well,  never  yielded  much. 
Another  commenced  drilling. 

Clark  <&  Company's  Well.  —  Sunk  in  1861,  by  hand 
and  horse-power.  Never  pumped,  but  dipped  up  with 
pail  half  a  barrel  per  day.  Owners  now  preparing  to 
sink  deeper.  Belongs  to  Chatauqua  Oil  Company.  Depth, 
four  hundred  feet.  Another  sunk  in  1861  to  five  hundred 
feet,  with  no  result. 

MEM. — Siverly  farm  is  about  one  mile  above  Oil  City. 
Land  fronting  on  river  is  held  at  five  thousand  dollars 
per  acre. 

On  the  Hassen  farm,  immediately  above  Oil  City,  are 
the  following  wells :  JVo.  One. — Yielded  from  two  to  eight 
barrels  per  day  for  a  few  weeks  in  1860.  Depth,  one  hun 
dred  and  sixty  feet.  Sunk  two  hundred  feet  further  with 
no  result.  Water  Works  well. — Pumped  ten  barrels  per 
day  for  two  years ;  now  dry.  This  was  the  only  old  work 
on  the  farm  that  yielded  largely.  Five  or  six  others  were 
sunk  and  abandoned  as  unprofitable.  One  has  continued 
to  flow  or  drip  about  a  barrel  per  day  for  three  months. 

Cleveland  and  Cherry  Valley  Oil  Company's  Wells. — 
Are  situated  on  Eeed  Eun.  One  pumps  ten  barrels  per 
day,  from  depth  of  six  hundred  feet.  Newly  opened.  An 
other  getting  ready  to  test,  with  fair  prospects. 


Statistics  of  Production.  191 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Alleghany,  between  Oil  City 
and  Walnut  Bend,  are  perhaps  thirty  wells,  a  majority  of 
them  under  way.  I  did  not  observe  any  pumping  oil  as 
I  passed  up  the  river  on  the  west  side. 

In  making  up  a  recapitulation  of  the  whole,  some  allow 
ance  should  be  made  for  wells  actually  yielding  oil,  but 
which  appeared  to  be  idle  at  the  time,  perhaps  because 
they  were  pumped  "  by  head."  I  have  made  allowance 
for  ten  such  at  the  usual  rate  of  yield  on  Oil  Creek. 

If  it  be  desired  to  calculate  upon  the  basis  given  under 
neath  the  annual  product  of  the  wells,  the  number  of  days 
should  be  set  down  at  about  three  hundred  and  forty,  to 
make  up  for  the  large  flowing  wells,  which  work  seven 
days  in  the  week,  and  about  one-quarter  of  the  pumping- 
wells,  whose  owners  follow  nature  in  this  respect. 

The  number  of  wells  denotes,  not  the  engines  which 
were  pumping  merely,  but  those  which  were  pumping  oil 
on  the  days  of  my  visit.  On  the  Tarr  and  other  farms,  I 
estimate  that  at  least  fifty  more  were  at  work,  exhausting 
the  water,  making  the  active  aggregate  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five.  This  will  probably  be  increased  to  five 
hundred  before  midsummer. 

KECAPITULATION. 

SFCTIONS  WELLS  TOTAL  YIELD,  AVERAGE 

IN   OPERATION.  BARRELS.  PER  DAY. 

Watson  Flats,  etc., 21  362  17, 1 

Miller  Farm, 1  28  28.0 

Foster  &  McElhenny  Farms, ...  15  523  34.9 

Funk  &  Boyd               do.   ...   16  648  40.5 

Wash.  McClintock        do.    ...   15  345  23.0 

Hyde  &  Egbert             do.  ...     6  725  120.8 

Storey                           do.   ...  22  855  38.8 

Tarr  &  Blood                do.   .    .   19  411  21.6 


192  Statistics  of  Production. 

WELLS  TOTAL   YIELD,  AVERAGE 

IS    OPERATION.  BARRELS.  PER  DAY. 

Rynd  &  Wid.  McC.       do.   ...   14  147  10.5 

Rouse  &  Buchanan       do.   ...   17  415  24.4 

H.  McClintock  to  Oil  City,. . .   16  682  42.6 

Oil  Creek  valley, 162  5141  31.7 

Cherry  Run, 51  1972  38.7 

Pithole  Creek, 3  *  300  100.0 

French  and  Sugar  Creeks,  ...    14  50  3.6 

Lower  Alleghany, 51  404  7.9 

Upper         do 31  666  21.5 

Omitted, 10  317  31.7 

Grand  totals, 322  8850  27.5 

At  this  rate,  the  annual  product  of  Petrolia  may  be  set 
down  at  three  million  nine  thousand  barrels.  We  can 
very  well  afford  to  leave  out  of  the  account  the  odd  thou 
sands,  and  accept  the  round  three  millions  as  the  amount 
of  very  sensible  perspiration  which  has  exuded  from  the 
pores  of  our  common  mother  in  that  twenty  miles  square 
block  of  Pennsylvania. 

But,  in  truth,  the  amount  given,  magnificent  as  it  may 
be,  is  far  below  the  grand  aggregate,  taking  one  season 
with  another.  Along  the  Alleghany  and  the  lower  farms 
on  Oil  Creek  and  Cherry  Eun,  I  estimate  the  proportion 
of  wells  temporarily  disabled  by  the  freshet  at  one-fourth 
of  those  producing  in  the  early  part  of  March.  Again, 
there  are  large  numbers  which  are  now  operated  during 
the  summer  months  only,  and  had  not  then  got  fairly 
under  way.  I  think  one  hundred  of  these  at  least  would 
be  going  by  the  first  of  May,  and  continue  steadily  during 
the  summer  months.  It  is  true  the  average  productive 
ness  of  these  is  considerably  below  that  of  the  aggregate. 

*  Partly  estimated. 


Statistics  of  Production.  193 

But  if  an  allowance  of  one-half  be  made  for  this  draw 
back,  the  residue  would  make  a  material  increase  in  the 
quantity.  The  newly  opened  and  reopened  wells  will  do 
more,  during  this  summer,  than  replace  those  which  go 
out  of  date  as  non-producers.  Taking  all  these  increments 
into  consideration,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  actual  yield 
of  Venango  is  over  ten  thousand  barrels  per  day,  giving 
as  a  grand  annual  aggregate  nearly  three  millions  and  a 
half  of  barrels. 
9 


CHAPTEK   VII. 

OIL  REFINING  AND  REFINERIES. 

THE  refining  of  petroleum,  or  preparing  it  for  illumi 
nating  and  lubricating  purposes,  is  one  of  the  new  depart 
ments  of  industry  created  during  the  past  five  years,  and 
now  giving  profitable  employment  to  hundreds  of  men  in 
Western  Pennsylvania  alone.  Its  object  is  two-fold — to 
free  the  liquid  from  impurities,  with  their  offensive  smell, 
and  to  render  it  unexplosive.  In  both,  the  most  triumph 
ant  success  has  attended  the  efforts  made ;  and  rock-oil, 
as  it  affords  the  cheapest  and  most  brilliant  light  known, 
is  equally  safe  and  inoffensive. 

For  much  of  this  success,  the  country  is  indebted  to 
Mr.  Samuel  M.  Kier,  of  Pittsburgh,  who  had  been  giving 
his  attention  to  this  subject  as  early  as  1849.  He  sent  a 
quantity  of  it  to  a  Philadelphia  chemist  to  have  it  analyz 
ed,  and  learned  that  if  he  could  get  a  suitable  lamp  for 
burning  it,  the  oil  would  make  an  excellent  illuminator. 
Eeturning  to  Pittsburgh,  he  set  other  men's  wits  at  work, 
and  soon  obtained  the  desideratum,  Mr.  Kier  erecting  a 
small  refinery.  From  1850  to  1855,  he  disposed  of  all  the 
petroleum  he  could  obtain  from  his  own  and  his  neigh 
bors'  salt- works,  in  which  it  had  been  discovered,  selling 
with  it  the  lamps  used  for  burning  it.  Boring  for  oil  ex 
clusively  had  not  then  been  thought  of;  but  when  Eve- 


Oil  Refining  and  Refineries.  195 

leth,  Bissel,  &  Drake  made  their  famous  attempt,  Colonel 
Drake  visited  and  examined  Mr.  Kier's  salt-wells  on  the 
Alleghany — with  what  result  is  already  sufficiently  known. 

The  first  process  in  distillation,  after  pouring  the  crude 
oil  into  tanks  in  the  ground,  is  to  pump  it  into  the  stills. 
At  Corry,  three  of  these  have  a  capacity  of  twenty-six 
thousand  gallons  each.  They  are  made  of  heavy  boiler 
plate,  capable  of  withstanding  a  very  high  pressure,  the 
liquid  being  raised  to  a  heat  of  four  hundred  or  five  hun 
dred  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  stills  being  duly  charged 
and  closed,  fire  is  applied  in  the  furnaces  underneath,  about 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  By  the  same  hour  in  the 
evening  they  should  be  emptied.  As  the  oil  evaporates, 
under  such  a  powerful  heat,  the  gas  passes  into  a  "  worm" 
or  "  condenser" — a  long,  slender  tube,  immersed  in  a  cur 
rent  of  cold  water,  which  causes  the  vapor  to  return  to 
the  liquid  condition.  On  emerging  from  this  tube,  the 
oil  has  a  whitish  blue  or  bluish  white  color,  instead  of  its 
native  dark  green  hue. 

From  the  condenser,  it  next  passes  into  the  "  receiver," 
a  large  tank,  out  of  which  it  is  transferred,  without  un 
dergoing  any  further  change,  into  the  "  treating- tank"  or 
u  agitator."  This  may  be  of  any  size,  provided  it  allow 
for  mixing  thoroughly  and  in  due  proportion  the  u  distil 
late"  (the  name  given  to  petroleum  in  that  stage)  with 
sulphuric  acid,  (oil  of  vitriol.)  The  quantity  of  acid  usu 
ally  assigned  to  thirty  barrels  of  oil  is  between  five  and 
six  pounds,  which  being  poured  in,  the  whole  mass  is 
stirred  or  agitated,  by  means  of  a  strong  current  of  air  or 
iron  paddles,  for  about  ten  minutes.  The  object  of  this 
process  is  to  separate  from  the  oil  such  foreign  ingredients 
as  dirt,  tar,  and  other  impurities,  that  may  still  have  rain- 


196  Oil  Refining  and  Refineries. 

gled  with  it.  These  settle  down  and  rest  upon  the  concave 
bottom  of  the  vessel  by  their  own  greater  specific  gravity, 
and  are  taken  away  separately.  Their  color  is  dark  purple 
or  nearly  black. 

The  oil  is  next  washed  with  clean  water,  and  agitated 
afresh  for  a  period  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  this  pro 
cess  being  repeated  several  times,  so  as  to  remove  from  it 
every  particle  of  the  add.  After  washing,  it  is  treated  to 
a  dose  of  alkali,  (usually  soda,)  in  the  proportion  of  five 
gallons  to  thirty  barrels,  whereupon  it  is  submitted  to  the 
"  hydrometrical  test,"  to  be  noticed  afterward.  The  alkali 
gives  it  brilliancy,  and  removes  every  particle  of  acid  that 
may  have  remained  in  it.  Next,  it  is  drawn  into  the 
"  bleachers"  or  "  settling- tanks,"  which  are  large,  shallow 
wooden  tubs.  The  liquid  has  now  a  whitish  or  bluish- 
white  color.  Measured  by  the  hydrometer,  this  instrument 
is  found  to  rest  at  the  point  marked  forty-seven  degrees 
on  the  scale,  sinking  to  the  level  of  a  higher  figure  in 
proportion  to  the  lightness  of  the  oil.  Its  range  varies 
from  fifteen  to  eighty  degrees.  The  coal-oil  is  not  so  white 
as  that  distilled  from  petroleum,  which  is  more  of  a  straw- 
color  than  the  former. 

From  the  settling-tank,  it  is  then  drawn  off  into  barrels 
of  from  forty  to  forty-five  gallons  each.  These  are  made 
of  the  best  white  oak,  their  insides  being  carefully  lined 
with  glue  or  soluble  glass,  previous  to  being  filled.  If 
the  barrels  be  sent  back  for  re-filling,  the  same  process  has 
again  to  be  gone  through  with ;  it  being  judged  unsafe, 
by  means  of  a  crack  in  the  coating,  to  leave  a  particle  of 
the  wood  exposed  to  the  insinuating  action  of  petroleum. 
Besides  the  loss  of  material  in  such  a  case,  there  is  the 
much  greater  danger  of  the  liquid,  after  oozing  through, 


Oil  Refining  and  Refineries.  197 

taking  fire  and  exciting  a  general  conflagration.  Before 
re-gluing  or  re-glazing,  the  old  coat  has  to  be  melted  and 
drawn  off  by  means  of  a  jet  of  steam. 

After  distillation,  the  first  liquor  that  comes  off  is  naph 
tha  or  "benzine,  a  very  light,  volatile,  and  inflammable 
substance,  its  hydrometrical  test  varying  from  sixty-five 
to  seventy-five  degrees.  "When  the  discharge  coming  from 
the  condenser  descends  to  sixty  or  sixty -two,  the  naphtha 
is  cut  off  and  let  run  to  oil.  If  cut  off  at  sixty-five  or 
seventy,  the  oil  will  be  very  light,  rather  inflammable,  and 
insufficient  to  stand  the  fire-test.  In  different  states,  va 
rious  tests  as  to  the  quality  of  the  liquid  in  this  respect 
have  been  established,  the  instrument  used  being  termed 
a  "  pyrometer"  or  "  fire-measure."  The  standard  in  New- 
York  is  one  hundred  and  ten  degrees,  but  in  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio  one  hundred.  The  pyrometer  is  a  little  brass 
vessel,  the  bottom  of  which  contains  a  small  quantity  of 
water,  heated  by  applying  a  gas-lamp.  Immediately  above 
this  water  is  placed  a  small  cup  containing  refined  oil, 
which  is  heated  equally  with  the  water.  The  "  test"  means 
the  point  at  which  vapor  arising  from  the  petroleum,  after 
the  application  of  heat,  will  ignite,  when  a  lighted  match 
is  held  above  it.  If  it  takes  fire  at  a  low  figure  in  the 
scale,  there  is  danger  of  such  oil,  when  placed  in  a  lamp, 
igniting  and  causing  the  lamp  to  burst,  since  a  certain 
portion  of  heat  is  communicated  to  it  all  through  from  the 
flame  above.  If  the  gas  blow  out  the  light,  it  is  termed 
the  "  vapor-test ;"  if  it  ignite,  it  is  the  regular  fire-test. 
The  difference  between  these  is  not  apt  to  be  quite  five 
degrees.  The  point  of  ignition  is  between  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  degrees  in  the 
best  quality  of  petroleum.  It  may  be  observed,  however, 


198  Oil  Refining  and  Refineries. 

that,  in  consequence  of  its  more  rapid  heating  by  some 
persons  than  by  others,  this  standard  will  vary  somewhat ; 
the  difference  between  the  figures,  in  testing  the  same 
sample,  running  from  one  to  five  degrees,  according  as  the 
person  engaged  applies  the  heat  rapidly  or  slowly.  The 
more  time  there  is  allowed,  the  article  will  appea,r  to  better 
advantage. 

There  are  three  grades  of  refined  oil — "the  prime 
white,"  "  the  standard  white"  or  "  light  straw,"  and  the 
"straw-colored."  The  last-named  usually  stands  a  fire- 
test  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  degrees. 

The  next  run  from  the  stills,  after  benzine  and  oil,  is 
called  paraffine — a  whitish,  wax-like,  inflammable  sub 
stance,  which  is  used  in  making  the  best  candles,  in  mix 
ing  with  wax,  and  occasionally  is  manufactured  into 
sweetmeats !  The  proportion  of  this  substance  to  the 
pure  petroleum  varies  according  to  the  season,  being 
greater  in  winter  than  in  summer,  when  some  of  it  appears 
to  mingle  with  the  oil.  Out  of  one  hundred  barrels  of 
distillate,  from  three  to  five  of  parafnne  will  usually  be 
obtained.  All  refiners,  however,  do  not  separate  it,  some 
letting  it  remain  with  the  liquid.  Elsewhere  I  have  no 
ticed  the  troubles  arising  from  the  collecting  of  this  ingre 
dient  on  the  inside  of  the  tubing,  the  pump-rods,  and  even 
the  well,  stopping  the  veins  and  preventing  the  passage 
of  oil  upward. 

The  residuum  coming  from  the  condenser  is  tar,  the 
ratio  of  which  to  all  other  substances  is  under  one  per 
cent.  It  is  commonly  used  on  the  ground  as  fuel ;  but  a 
new  use  for  it  has  been  discovered  in  some  places  where 
refineries  have  been  established,  namely,  to  lubricate  such 
heavy  articles  of  machinery  as  cog-wheels. 


Oil  Refining  and  Refineries.  199 

The  fine  lubricating  oil  obtained  on  French  and  Sugar 
Creeks,  and  for  a  short  distance  above  the  mouth  of  the 
latter  on  the  Alleghany,  is  not  always  submitted  to  the 
refining  processes.  Such  portions  of  it  as  are  used  on 
locomotives,  stationary  engines,  and  most  kinds  of  heavy 
machinery,  pass  directly  from  the  tank  to  the  operative's 
flask  ;  but  it  is  judged  best  to  refine  such  oils  as  may  be 
required  on  the  more  delicate  kinds,  as  cotton,  silk,  and 
woollen  machinery.  The  modes  of  treating  it  do  not  vary 
materially  from  those  of  refining  common  illuminating  oil. 

In  the  Corry  works,  after  going  through  the  several 
processes,  it  is  placed  in  a  room  which  is  a  mammoth  re 
frigerator,  the  temperature"  being  reduced  to  a  very  low 
degree  by  salt  and  ice.  In  a  short  time,  the  oil  becomes 
a  thick  slush,  in  which  condition  it  is  put  into  strong  can 
vas-bags  and  subjected  to  a  powerful  pressure,  by  which 
the  pure  oil  is  forced  through  the  coarse  cloth,  leaving 
the  parafiine  inside,  which  forms  in  thin,  hard  cakes,  of  a 
gray  or  light-brown  color.  This  substance  readily  separates 
into  thin  flakes,  somewhat  resembling  the  scales  of  a  fish. 
In  this  condition  the  paraffine  is  sent  to  Boston,  where  it 
is  refined  to  the  pure  white  article  of  commerce. 

The  quantity  of  merchantable  products  of  all  kinds — 
refined  oil,  naphtha,  paraffine,  and  tar  or  residuum — ob 
tained  by  distillation,  varies  according  to  the  quality  of 
the  crude  oil,  and  to  some  slight  extent  according  to  the 
season.  At  the  Downer  works  they  reckon  upon  eighty- 
five  to  ninety  per  cent  on  the  average.  Mr.  Sommers  of 
Jersey  City  assures  me  that  he  has  distilled  as  much  as 
ninety-five  per  cent  out  of  some  illuminating  oils  ;  but  this 
is  an  unusually  high  figure.  There  is  commonly  a  little 
more  loss  in  refining  oils  for  exportation  than  for  consump 
tion  in  the  home  market. 


200  Oil  Refining  and  Refineries. 

As  to  the  proportions  of  each,  there  is  much  diversity, 
these  varying  with  the  natural  quality  of  the  crude  article, 
and  with  the  purpose  and  skill  of  the  manufacturer,  so 
that  it  is  difficult  to  give  an  estimate  which  will  apply  to 
all.  Mr.  Sommers  states  that  when,  they  make  it  for  ex 
portation,  the  fire-test  being  one  hundred  and  fifteen,  they 
get  about  seventy -five  per  cent  of  refined  petroleum  and 
about  fifteen  per  cent  of  benzine.  With  a  fire- test  of 
one  hundred  degrees,  which  is  considered  perfectly  safe, 
they  get  from  eighty  to  eighty-two  per  cent  of  refined  oil, 
and  about  eight  per  cent  of  naphtha.  The  latter  ordinari 
ly  sells  at  about  half  the  price  per  gallon  of  the  former. 

One  of  the  products  of  Heinrich  &  Sommers's  refinery 
in  Jersey  city  is  gasoline — a  liquid  which  bears  about  the 
same  relation  to  benzine  as  the  latter  does  to  refined  oil. 
It  begins  to  come  off  at  a  heat  of  eighty-five  degrees 
Fahrenheit,  and  is  cut  off  when  the  heat  rises  to  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  degrees.  Between  one  hundred  and  fifty 
and  two  hundred  and  twelve  degrees,  (the  boiling  point,) 
benzine  or  naphtha  comes  off.  From  this  point,  to  get  all 
the  petroleum,  the  heat  is  raised  to  about  four  hundred 
and  fifty  degrees,  beyond  which  it  is  scarcely  ever  neces 
sary  to  go.  Gasoline  is  used  in  some  establishments  for 
the  manufacture  of  common  illuminating  gas,  which  can 
be  made  from  it  more  cheaply  than  from  coal.  It  has 
been  introduced  into  the  Springfield  armory,  among  other 
concerns.  The  government  charges  a  tax  of  five  per  cent 
ad  valorem  on  this,  as  on  refined  lubricating  oil,  instead  of 
the  ordinary  twenty  cents  per  gallon. 

The  proportion  of  crude  to  refined  oil  exported,  Mr. 
Sommers  estimates  at  from  one-third  to  one-fourth.  More 
or  less  of  the  former  is  sent  to  Great  Britain,  France, 


Oil  Refining  and  Refineries.  201 

and  Germany,  where  chemicals  as  well  as  labor  can  be 
had  cheaper.  To  all  other  countries  petroleum  is  shipped 
in  its  refined  state  only. 

There  is  no  single  centre  of  this  business,  it  being  car 
ried  on  all  over  the  country,  from  the  sea-board  cities  to 
Corry,  Pittsburgh,  and  numerous  other  points  in  the  West. 
The  largest  concern  of  the  kind  in  Petrolia  proper  is  the 
Downer  works  at  Corry,  the  premises  comprising  half  a 
dozen  acres.  The  number  of  men  employed  usually  ap 
proaches  two  hundred,  and  the  capacity  of  the  works  is 
eighteen  hundred  barrels  per  week.  The  buildings  are 
of  brick  and  made  fire-proof  throughout.  On  one  occa 
sion  a  still  burst  and  its  contents  took  fire ;  but  as  each  of 
the  six  furnaces  occupies  a  separate  apartment,  the  flame 
was  extinguished  by  the  application  of  steam  from  the  ad 
joining  boilers.  The  whole  arrangements  about  this  con 
cern  are  equally  perfect,  showing  a  regard  to  order  and 
neatness  as  well  as  safety. 

Next  in  capacity  to  this  establishment  is  the  Humboldt 
refinery  at  Plumer,  the  area  inclosed  being  nearly  twenty- 
five  acres,  and  the  works  so  planned  as  to  take  advantage 
of  the  natural  descent  of  the  ground,  in  the  passage  of  oil 
from  one  set  of  vessels  to  another,  thus  dispensing  with 
the  use  of  artificial  power ;  they  are  also  so  far  separated 
that,  in  the  event  of  one  building  taking  fire,  it  would  not 
be  communicated  to  any  of  the  others.  The  proprietors 
are  Messrs.  Ludovici,  Brothers,  who  are  natives  of  Ger 
many,  and  gentlemen  of  rare  intelligence  and  urbanity. 
The  author  of  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "All  about  Petro 
leum,"  has  fallen  into  some  amusing  errors  concerning  this 
establishment,  it  is  believed,  from  not  having  been  within 
some  miles  of  the  concern  which  he  attempts  to  describe 


202  Oil  Refining  and  Refineries. 

with  liis  usual  grandiloquence.  He  speaks  of  "  a  color  pro 
duced  from  the  residuum  of  the  petroleum  "  at  that  estab 
lishment,  as  being  "  a  bright  and  fixed  cerulean  blue,  or 
perhaps  a  shade  darker,  and  called  the  Humboldt  color." 
Its  proper  name  is  analine.  One  of  the  proprietors  assures 
me  that,  at  the  time  when  this  statement  appeared,  they 
had  not  even  thought  of  making  such  a  color  ;  but  since 
that  time,  inquiries  and  orders  had  come  to  them  in 
such  numbers  that  they  concluded  to  engage  in  it.  Fur 
ther,  the  writer  goes  on  to  say,  that  "  the  discoverers  are 
German  chemists,  who  do  not  speak,  if  they  understand, 
English."  The  Mr.  Ludovici  whom  I  saw  speaks  as  good 
English  as  is  found  in  the  pamphlet !  Again :  "  No 
stranger  is  allowed  to  enter  their  works,  except  by  special 
permission."  Nothing  could  be  more  incorrect  than  this 
statement,  as  I  wandered  through  them  and  made  in 
quiries,  without  so  much,  as  one  of  the  employes  asking 
a  question,  much  less  refusing  permission  to  go  further. 
Other  persons  did  the  same  thing  while  I  was  present ; 
and  this  was  no  newly  adopted  arrangement.  So  much 
for  the  accounts  of  a  writer  who,  from  a  distance  of  miles, 
undertakes  to  describe  "All  about  Petroleum,"  manifestly 
taking  less  pains  to  arrive  at  the  truth  than  to  depict,  in 
glowing  "  colors,"  a  great  and  important  interest,  whose 
defects,  however,  he  is  equally  careful  to  conceal. 

The  number  of  stills  in  the  Humboldt  works  is  twenty, 
and  their  capacity  is  one  thousand  barrels  per  w^k.  The 
oil  refined  there  is  for  the  most  part  exported  to  Europe, 
where  it  has  an  established  reputation.  The  proprietors 
are  organizing  under  a  charter  of  incorporation.  From 
Tarr  farm,  three  miles  distant,  the  oil  raised  is  forced,  by 
a  powerful  pumping  apparatus,  over  the  hills  to  Plumer, 


Oil  Refining  and  Refineries.  203 

and,  after  refining,  is  thence  taken  by  wagon  to  the  Al- 
leghany  Kiver  landing  or  to  Titusville.  Saw-mills,  barrel- 
factories,  etc.,  are  on  the  premises. 

Messrs.  "Warren,  Brothers',  refinery  is  in  the  same  vil 
lage,  and  contains  sixteen  stills,  with  a  capacity  of  nine 
hundred  barrels  per  week.  A  powerful  Worthington 
pump  forces  the  refined  oil  to  the  summit  of  the  ridge 
east  of  the  works,  about  two  hundred  feet  in  perpendicular 
height,  whence  it  descends  by  the  force  of  gravity  to  the 
Alleghany. 

At  Titusville  are  four  or  five  refineries,  mostly  of  small 
capacity,  the  principal  being  the  Bunker  Hill  works ; 
probably  as  many  as  twenty  more  of  the  same  character 
are  scattered  along  Oil  Creek  down  to  its  mouth.  Near 
Petroleum  Centre  are  six  of  these,  the  largest  having  four 
thirty-barrel  stills  ;  three  are  on  the  Storey  farm  ;  about 
half  a  dozen  are  on  the  flats  immediately  above  Oil  City, 
the  largest  being  the  Union  works,  with  four  stills,  and 
now  owned  by  Mr.  Truair.  In  the  lower  part  of  that 
place,  the  Oil  City  Petroleum  and  Eefining  Company  own 
a  refinery  having  four  stills,  with  a  capacity  of  three  hun 
dred  barrels  per  week,  and  a  second,  of  two  hundred  bar 
rels,  on  Holliday  Run.  Messrs.  W.  H.  Lay  &  Co.  have 
another,  with  three  stills,  and  a  capacity  of  two  hundred 
barrels.  On  Cherry  Run,  the. Messrs.  Orr's  refinery  will 
turn  out  one  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  weekly.  At  Reno 
Station,  two  miles  below  Oil  City,  are  three  refineries ; 
about  as  far  above  Franklin,  another  is  about  to  commence 
work.  One  mile  above  Franklin,  on  French  Creek,  a 
neat  little  concern  has  been  in  successful  operation  for 
some  time. 

On  the  flats  above  Oil  City,  only  one  of  these  establish- 


204  Oil  Refining  and  Refineries. 

ments  was  actively  at  work  when  I  visited  that  locality  ; 
and  taking  all  the  works  along  Oil  Creek,  as  many  as  one 
half  were  standing  idle.  The  others  were  moving  along 
under  easy  sail,  so  that  it  is  probable  three  times  the 
quantity  of  refined  oil  could  be  produced  that  was  then 
being  turned  out.  As  a  whole,  I  have  no  doubt  the  busi 
ness  has  been  profitable,  and  will  so  continue  to  be,  in 
spite  of  the  oppressively  heavy  taxes  imposed  on  both 
crude  and  refined  petroleum  by  the  general  government. 
It  was  represented,  however,  that,  in  consequence  of  these, 
some  works  had  suspended  operations,  and  might  come  to 
a  full  stop.  If  this  imposition,  made  by  Uncle  Samuel, 
be  traceable  to  the  impositions  made  upon  many  of  Uncle 
Samuel's  family,  through  misrepresentation  as  to  the  re 
sources  of  Petrolia,  who  shall  say  that  the  retribution  was 
not  deserved  ? 

The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  establishing  re 
fineries  near  the  oil  regions  are  many,  and  pretty  nearly 
equally  balanced.  By  being  on  the  ground,  one  is  en 
abled  to  take  immediate  advantage  of  every  turn  of  the 
market  in  making  purchases.  There  is  also  a  saving  in 
transportation  ;  though  this  is  partly  offset  by  the  freight 
on  chemicals,  which  have  to  be  sent  on  from  the  East. 
Probably  the  greatest  benefit  is  in  knowing  and  being 
personally  known  by  managers  at  the  wells.  On  the  other 
hand,  real  estate,  fuel,  labor,  etc.,  are  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  percent  higher  in  Petrolia  than  elsewhere;  and 
until  "  order  reigns  "  there,  must  so  continue  to  be.  With 
cheap  transportation  by  river,  and  thence  by  railroad, 
with  an  abundantly  supplied  labor  market,  and  coal  at  a 
minimum,  Pittsburgh  is  thought  by  many  to  be  the  best 
point  for  refining  petroleum ;  but  with  the  requisite  capital 


Oil  Refining  and  Refineries.  205 

and  skill,  a  small  refinery  may  be  run  successfully  at  almost 
any  point  furnishing  cheap  fuel,  cheap  transportation, 
and  a  market  for  the  article.  No  other  form  of  industry 
is  likely  to  be  less  localized  than  this.  The  principal  mat 
ter  to  be  considered  is,  whether  the  number  of  refineries 
is  not  already  in  excess  of  the  supply  of  crude  petroleum 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

HOW  STRANGLES  ARE   TAKEN  IN. 

"  IF  we  succeed,  we  shall  make  half  a  million ;  if  we 
don't,  we  can  lose  only  the  five  hundred  dollars,"  observed 
an  oil-prince  to  me  one  evening,  after  relating  the  success 
of  a  pecuniary  transaction  in  which  he  and  a  few  others 
had  engaged.  The  prince  aforesaid  is  by  no  means  an 
unworthy  citizen.  On  the  contrary,  as  he  is  rotund  and 
good-natured,  so  he  is  affable  and  obliging.  I  am  not  cer 
tain  but  that  he  is  even  public-spirited — at  least  as  much 
so  as  any  body  else  in  the  same  locality.  He  was  concern 
ed  in  no  operation  which  society  would  term  nefarious, 
much  less  stamp  as  infamous ;  but  with  all  this,  he,  a 
dull-looking,  phlegmatic  Pennsylvanian,  was  setting  his 
snares  for  catching  smart,  shrewd,  keen,  sagacious  Boston- 
ians,  New-Yorkers,  and  Philadelphians,  of  the  Wall-street 
type.  And  as  he  was  ready  enough,  without  solicitation, 
to  unfold  his  plans,  I  have  thought  proper  to  open  this 
chapter  with  an  allusion  to  them. 

The  mode  of  operating  was  substantially  this  :  He  and 
his  associates  had  purchased  a  considerable  tract  of  land 

at  the  head  of Kun,  on  which  the  sum  of  five 

hundred  dollars  only  had  to  be  paid  down ;  the  residue 
to  be  paid  at  a  date  sufficiently  far  distant  to  allow  time 
for  making  experiments.  At  the  same  time,  the  associates 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  207 

had  made  arrangements  with  another  person  to  sink  a  well 
on  an  acre-lot — they  contributing  with  the  real  estate 
one-tenth  of  the  capital,  for  which  they  were  to  receive 
one-eighth  of  the  oil  obtained.  The  locality  being  at  some 
miles'  distance  from  any  paying  well,  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
this  bargain  was  perfectly  satisfactory  to  the  purchasers, 
as  the  risk  of  sinking  was  nearly  all  transferred  to  the 
well-digger.  If  he  succeeded  in  getting  oil,  one  acre  of 
the  remaining  property  would  sell  for  as  much  as  the  whole 
tract  had  cost ;  if  not,  they  had  only  to  throw  up  the  con 
tract  and  forfeit  the  five  hundred  dollars.  Hence  it  was 
with  a  smile  of  triumph  that  he  made  the  remark :  "  If 
we  succeed,  we  shall  make  half  a  million  by  the  operation." 

By  transactions  somewhat  similar,  nearly  every  foot  of 
land  within  fifteen  miles  of  Oil  Creek  has  passed  into  the 
hands  of  speculators,  who  are  "  operating  for  a  rise"  by 
arts  and  appliances  know-n  only  to  the  initiated.  Some  of 
these  are  not  dishonorable,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
term ;  others  are  bald  swindles  which  call  for  exposure. 

Lands  are  not  offered  for  sale  by  middle-men  until  a 
well  has  been  struck  on  or  near  the  premises.  No  matter 
how  remote  these  may  be,  the  "  good  show"  of  petroleum 
is  inevitably  followed  by  the  erection  of  one  or  more  lines 
of  telegraph.  Every  day's  yield  is  carefully  noted  and 
registered  and  telegraphed  to  the  great  cities,  as  also  to 
the  principal  points'  in  Petrolia  where  strangers  are  accus 
tomed  to  congregate.  This  operation  continues  as  long  as 
the  well  keeps  on  the  increase,  and  even  after  it  comes  to 
a  stand-still.  The  philosophy  of  laying  down  telegraphic 
wires,  while  common  highways  have  hardly  been  thought 
of,  is  explained  by  the  maxim  :  "  Strike  while  the  iron  is 
hot."  In  other  words,  sell  your  interest  in  a  well  before 


208  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in. 

its  productiveness  has  begun  to  fall  off,  which  is  morally 
certain  to  take  place  within  a  calendar  month  after  discov 
ery.  The  market  value  of  a  good  well  on  Oil  Creek  or 
its  tributaries  is  usually  calculated  at  so  much  for  every 
barrel  of  oil  yielded  in  one  day.  Last  winter  the  price 
was  as  high  as  five  thousand  dollars  per  barrel ;  since 
then,  it  has  fallen  off  to  three  thousand  dollars.  Thus  a 
forty -barrel  well  is  supposed  to  be  intrinsically  worth  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  On  French  or 
Sugar  Creek,  where  the  oil  is  of  a  much  better  quality, 
the  price  per  barrel,  of  course,  is  greater. 

Now  it  is  of  the  utmost  consequence  that  the  measure 
ment  be  made  and  widely  published  while  the  well  is  in 
the  hey-day  of  its  prime,  before  its  energies  have  begun 
to  relax  and  its  discharges  to  be  less  copious.  At  five 
thousand  dollars  per  barrel,  a  newly-tapped  source  giving 
one  hundred  barrels  per  day  might  have  realized  half  a 
million  last  February  or  March  ;  while  by  the  middle  of 
April  it  would  probably  have  declined  to  fifty  or  sixty 
barrels,  worth  only  three  thousand  dollars  each,  or  say 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  The  read 
er  will  readily  comprehend  the  zeal  manifested  for  "  prog 
ress"  in  the  direction  of  the  magnetic  wire  throughout 
Petrolia ;  while  such  every-day  matters  as  common  roads 
are  utterly  neglected. 

To  cooperate  with  the  telegraph,  the  several  entrances 
into  the  oil  region  are  commonly  garrisoned  by  a  corps  of 
veterans,  who  have  a  direct  interest  in  magnifying  the 
powers  and  resources  of  the  country.  With  the  prosperity 
of  Oil-dom  proper,  all  the  avenues  leading  thither  also 
prosper  ;  every  hotel-keeper,  every  land-agent,  every  mer 
chant,  every  owner  of  real  estate,  prosper.  Demetrius, 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  209 

the  silversmith,  calling  his  workmen  together  and  explain 
ing  to  them,  "  Sirs,  ye  know  that  it  is  by  these  things  we 
have  our  wealth.  .  .  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians !" 
explains  sufficiently  the  influences  which  are  often  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  stranger,  as  he  passes  through  Corry, 
Titusville,  Franklin,  or  Oil  City.  "  Have  you  heard  of 
the  two  hundred-barrel  well  struck  on  Big  Pithole  yester 
day  ?  It  is  a  fact,  sir.  I  saw  a  gentleman  just  come 
from  it,  and  he  assured  me  that  he  '  timed'  it  with  his 
watch  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  it  gave  one  hundred 
gallons  good  in  that  time.  I  have  no  doubt  of  his  word, 
sir.  Pithole  is  going  to  be  developed  this  summer.  The 
best  judges  say  it  is  every  bit  as  good  oil  territory  as  the 
creek."  To  which  the  company  respond  affirmatively, 
some  of  them  perhaps  announcing  still  greater  develop 
ments  in  the  same  line. 

For  the  group  present  consists  largely  of  interested 
witnesses.  In  those  hotels  and  boarding-houses  on  the 
outskirts  of  Petrolia  are  platoons  of  men  eager  to  "  make 
an  honest  penny"  by  selling  or  leasing  lands,  the  right  of 
refusal,  oil  stocks,  interests  in  wells,  etc. — their  profits  or 
commissions  depending  on  the  result,  according  as  they 
may  succeed  in  making  a  favorable  impression  or  other 
wise  on  the  stranger.  There  are  also  congregated  the 
agents  of  Eastern  manufacturers,  who  strive  to  push  their 
fabrics  as  extensively  as  possible  into  the  country.  There, 
too,  assemble  daily  the  oil-princes  who  have  made  their 
fortunes  in  the  business,  and  have  either  retired  or  kept 
extending  the  circle  of  their  operations,  until  their  names 
appearing  as  managers  of  any  new  enterprise  secure  it  all 
the  pecuniary  support  required.  The  sight  of  a  living, 
moving,  talking  millionaire — perhaps  only  a  teamster 


210  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in. 

three  years  ago — is  too  dazzling  to  most  minds  to  be 
gazed  upon  without  turning  the  head.  As  he  paces  the 
floor,  and  proceeds  to  narrate  his  experience  in  the  oil  re 
gions — how  he  came  hither  with  only  five  dollars  in  his 
pocket,  and  how  he  stuck  to  it  till  he  found  himself  the 
owner  of  a  controlling  interest  in  eleven  paying  wells, 
sandwiching  advices  among  the  observations — it  is  diffi 
cult  to  escape  catching  the  contagion.  "  I  never  knew  a 
man  that  stuck  on  to  the  oil  business  but  what  succeeded, 
and  got  rich  at  last,"  is  a  clincher  to  the  stranger  with  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  money  or  credit  in  his  wallet. 

Mr.  Secretary,  we  will  suppose,  has  just  arrived  at  one 
of  these  caravansaries,  and  become  deeply  interested  in 
conversation  with  an  oil-prince  or  agent,  who  depicts  in 
glowing  terms  the  virtues  of  a  certain  piece  of  property, 
and  the  productiveness  of  a  well,  in  which  he  has  an 
interest  for  sale,  after  having  made  money  enough,  etc. 
As  the  agent  or  confidential  adviser  of  a  strong  com 
pany  at  the  East,  he  decides  to  visit  that  well  the  next 
day  to  see  for  himself,  and  if  the  facts  turn  out  as  re 
presented,  either  to  purchase  an  interest  in  it,  or  "  ter 
ritory"  as  close  by  as  possible.  He  will  recommend  a 
purchase,  if  he  does  not  himself  buy  ;  for  oil  is  now  down 
in  price,  and  certain  to  advance  with  the  opening  of  the 
spring  business,  so  that  the  purchaser  of  a  large  interest  is 
likely  to  make  a  good  thing  out  of  it  before  thirty  days. 
But  he  is  too  old  a  bird  to  be  caught  with  chaff;  he  will 
place  implicit  belief  in  nobody's  word ;  he  has  seen  too 
much  of  the  world  for  that.  He  will  go  and  examine  for 
himself  what  the  well  is  actually  doing,  "  timing"  its  yield, 
and  making  all  the  other  necessary  inquiries. 

Now  here  comes  in  the  great  beauty,  the  amazing  util- 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  211 

ity  of  that  marvel  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  telegraph. 
For  while  Mr.  Secretary  is  admiring  his  black  boot-legs, 
or  calculating  his  profits  on  the  prospective  purchase,  the 
affable  Petrolian  who  gave  him  the  information  and  offer 
ed  to  accompany  him  to  the  well,  has  quietly  sent  a  dis 
patch  to  the  manager  with  this  purport :  "  Secretary  and 
I  will  be  with  you  at  eleven  o'clock  to-morrow.  Have 
every  thing  in  apple-pie  order.  Yours,  PETER  O'LEUM." 

Peter,  you  must  know,  is  the  most  disinterested  fellow 
in  the  world,  and  clever  withal.  He  cracks  jokes  at  his 
own  or  other  people's  expense.  On  their  way  he  is  vol 
uble  in  explaining  every  thing — the  phenomenon  of  so 
many  wells  standing  idle  and  the  like.  They  were  put 
down  just  before  the  great  fall  in  the  price  of  oil,  four 
years  ago,  and  then  abandoned ;  the  company  had  not 
means  enough  to  finish,  although  the  well  gave  a  first-rate 
show  ;  the  great  freshet — that  convenient  scapegoat — 
swept  over  the  bottom,  and  managers  have  not  yet  got 
their  new  machinery  on  the  ground  ;  such  a  well  paid  for 
itself  five  times  over,  and  can  afford  to  rest  awhile ; 
yonder  is  the  Great  Geyser,  which  literally  set  the  river 
on  fire  and  burned  for  three  days  and  nights.  With  such 
thrilling  reminiscences  of  the  past,  the  stranger  at  length 
finds  himself  confronting  the  object  of  his  search — the 
two  hundred  barrel  well. 

And  it  is  a  grand  sight  to  behold  !  For,  even  after  re 
ducing  its  reported  yield  fifty  per  cent,  the  spectacle  of 
one  pouring  forth  of  its  own  accord  one  hundred  barrels 
every  twenty-four  hours  is  sufficient  to  make  the  behold 
er's  eyes  glisten,  his  teeth  water,  and  his  brain  grow  dizzy, 
unless  his  mental  composition  be  different  from  that  of 
most  men.  That  moderate  quantity  in  Petrolia,  at  the 


212  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in. 

low  prices  lately  ruling,  represents  an  income  of  five 
hundred  dollars  per  day,  fifteen  thousand  dollars  per 
month,  or  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  for 
the  whole  year.  True,  it  is  far  from  being  equal  to  the 
wealth  of  a  Tarr,  a  Blood,  a  Hyde,  a  McClintock,  a  Cul 
ver,  a  Sherman,  a  Noble,  a  Delamater,  an  Allen,  a  Funk, 
a  Downer,  or  many  another  oil-prince ;  still  it  is  a  snug 
little  competency  with  which  an  aged  pair  might  think  of 
retiring,  without  feeling  greatly  distressed  as  to  the  means 
of  support  in  this  world.  The  very  fumes  of  the  gas  have 
an  exhilarating,  if  not  intoxicating,  effect  on  one's  brain. 
Who  cares,  under  circumstances  where  he  is  likely  to 
be  pecuniarily  concerned,  about  the  mystery  of  the  gen 
esis  of  petroleum  ?  Of  what  consequence  to  the  purchas 
er  whether  the  drill  has  struck  the  aorta  of  a  half-petrified 
whale,  which  is  making  its  last  and  greatest  spout,  as  it 
was  wont  to  do  in  the  Greenland  seas ;  or  whether  the 
greasy  liquid  has  been  distilled  from  coal,  or  is  a  new 
chemical  combination  going  on  in  the  world's  basement- 
story  ?  Topsy's  .explanation,  that  it  "  wasn't  made,  but 
growed,"  is  as  good  as  any  when  one  is  seriously  thinking 
of  making  an  investment.  "  Well,  sir,"  observes  Mr.  P. 
O'L.,  after  allowing  the  spectacle  time  to  make  its  own 
impression,  "  you  see  there  is  no  mistake  about  that  well. 
I  have  timed  her  repeatedly,  and  found  her  to  be  a  little 
over  two  hundred  barrels  a  day.  The  engineer  says  she 
yields  better  at  night  than  during  the  day,  and  in  winter 
quite  as  good  as  during  the  summer,  on  account  of  the 
paraffine  which  collects  in  the  warm  weather,  you  know. 
That  well  would  net  you  a  good  half-million  the  first 
year,  and  in  twenty  years  would  make  a  man  as  rich  as 
John  Jacob  Astor." 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  213 

1  'Figures  never  lie;"  "facts  are  stubborn  things,"  and 
all  that ;  but  with  any  number  of  such  proverbs  and  wise 
saws,  it  is  almost  refreshing  to  watch  how  many  shrewd, 
sharp,  intelligent  Eastern  financiers,  who  feel  themselves 
competent  to  buy  and  sell  all  creation,  can  themselves  be 
bought  and  sold  and  delivered  by  Petrol ian  speculators, 
through  the  simple  agency  of  facts  and  figures. 

Perhaps  the  disinterested  Peter  is  agent  for  an  old  and 
established  concern — a  fifty-barrel  well,  we  shall  suppose 
— that  has  a  history  of  which  any  institution  might  justly 
feel  proud.  It  has  already  enriched  half  a  dozen  ;  arid  the 
lucky  owner  of  a  one-fourth  interest  in  it,  having  made 
money  enough,  is  desirous  of  leaving  the  country,  and  en 
joying  his  dignity  with  ease  and  plenty  elsewhere.  Peter 
induces  the  stranger  to  fix  the  day  and  hour  for  a  visit, 
whereupon  the  secret  is  duly  whispered  over  the  wires. 
Now,  it  happens  that  the  aforesaid  well  has,  for  a  year  or 
more,  been  pumping  "by  head,"  that  is,  two  or  three 
hours  per  day,  or  as  often  as  the  butter  collected  on  the 
churned  milk  below,  thus  saving  both  fuel  and  labor. 
The  men  engaged  about  it  have  received  instructions  as 
to  how  they  shall  answer  questions ;  and  so,  every  thing 
being  in  readiness,  the  curtain  rises.  Mr.  Secretary  and 
Peter  step  out  on  the  stage  and  examine  the  works.  They 
repair  to  the  tank,  climbing  the  greasy  ladder  which  leads 
up  to  it,  both  manifesting  the  utmost  unconcern  about 
purity  of  fingers  or  cleanness  of  coat-skirt.  The  fact  is, 
in  twenty-four  hours  the  stranger  has  become  almost  a 
Petrolian;  and  Peter  is  careful  to  flatter  his  vanity,  by 
congratulating  him  on  the  rapidity  of  his  naturalization. 
Peter's  mouth  yields  more  lubricating  oil  than  the  best 
well  on  French  Creek.  "  A  big  thing  that,  I  tell  you," 


214  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in. 

he  exclaims.  "It  is,"  dryly  responds  Secretary;  "but  I 
guess  the  yield's  not  over  thirty-five  barrels  a  day."  The 
proprietor  here  steps  forward,  and  observes :  "  You  see 
that  tank,  sir.  It  is  ten  feet  deep,  contains  eight  hundred 
barrels,  when  filled,  and  is  now  half  full.  (Measures.) 
Well,  sir,  that  was  pumped  since  last  Monday  week,  just 
eight  days."  In  verification  of  this  he  calls  for  the  en 
gineer,  who  confirms  all  he  had  said,  except  that  it  lacks 
an  hour  or  two  of  being  quite  eight  days.  "  Well,  I  knew," 
proceeds  the  other,  "that  I  had  not  gone  beyond  the  truth, 
at  any  rate.  She's  one  of  the  best  and  steadiest  wells  on 
the  creek ;  and  if  I  didn't  want  to  get  out  of  the  business 
and  go  home  to  my  family,  I  would  never  think  of  part 
ing  with  her."  What  more  could  Mr.  Incredulity  himself 
ask  than  this?  To  the  testimony  of  three  witnesses  is 
added  ample  verification  by  his  own  eye,  he  having  timed 
the  yield  by  his  elegant  repeater.  He  inquires  the  price, 
the  lowest  cash-down  price,  at  which  the  owner  is  ready  to 
sell  his  interest,  and  closes  the  bargain  then  and  there. 

"  Which  certainly  seemed  wondrous  cheap, 
And  for  the  money  quite  a  heap, 
As  every  man  would  buy  with  cash  and  sense." 

MEM.  No.  ONE. — If  Mr.  Secretary  had  been  there  three 
days  ago,  he  might  have  learned  that  a  purchase  of  fifty 
barrels  of  oil  had  been  made  from  a  neighbor,  the  same 
being  conveyed  on  the  sly  into  the  tank  of  that  "  very 
steady  well." 

MEM.  No.  Two. — If  he  had  some  means  of  gauging  its 
contents,  he  might  discover  that  seventy  per  cent  con 
sists  of  salt  water,  which  has  settled  to  the  bottom  by  vir 
tue  of  its  greater  specific  gravity.  Ordinarily,  this  is  per- 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  215 

mitted  to  escape  by  a  stop-cock,  inserted  near  the  bottom ; 
but  this  discharge  has  been  stopped,  to  prepare  for  such 
distinguished  visitors  a  suitable  reception. 

MEM.  No.  THREE. — If  he  should  remain  on  the  ground 
two  hours,  he  would  be  certain  to  find  the  engine  break 
ing  down,  so  that  it  could  not  pump  another  drop.  By 
some  lucky  arrangement  a  bolt  would  get  loose  or  fuel 
would  run  short,  just  in  the  nick  of  time,  the  oil  having 
been  completely  exhausted  from  the  well !  Whereupon 
the  engine  would  get  a  blessing  (in  disguise)  from  some  of 
the  men  in  charge  of  the  works,  accompanied  by  the  frank 
declaration,  that  if  they  had  only  got  a  good  machine,  in 
stead  of  that  rickety  concern,  the  well  would  have  yielded 
sixty  or  seventy  barrels  a  day — perhaps  one  hundred. 

The  purchaser  is  a  believer  in  improvements,  and  makes 
up  his  mind  to  replace  that  inefncient  engine  by  a  good 
one,  which  he  proceeds  to  recommend  or  order  as  soon  as 
possible. 

That  evening  he  retires  to  rest  in  a  delicious  state  of 
self-complacency  at  his  day's  work,  and  full  of  great  ex 
pectations  for  the  future.  The  seller  sticks  his  tongue  in 
his  cheek  and  keeps  it  there.  Peter  has  managed  to  clear 
a  thousand  dollars  by  the  operation,  besides  gaining  the 
reputation  of  being  a  deuced  smart  fellow. 

I  assert  that  this  is  a  part,  and  but  a  part,  of  the  system 
of  swindling  carried  on  in  the  oil  regions— a  system  which 
has  been  reduced  to  both  a  science  and  an  art.  It  is  ex 
quisite,  magnificent,  stupendous,  brilliantly  successful.  It 
is  the  key  to  that  certain  wealth  which,  we  are  told,  finally 
awaits  all  who  persevere  in  Petrolia.  The  employes  of 
individuals  and  companies  have  addressed  me  more  than 
once  after  this  fashion  :  "  I  don't  want  my  name  to  appear 


216  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in. 

in  it ;  but  I  have  been  instructed  to  say  this  well  yields 
twenty-five  barrels  a  day.  She  really  gives  between 
twelve  and  fifteen,  when  she  is  pumped  regularly ;  but 
she  has  not  been  for  the  past  three  months.  You  may 
set  down  her  actual  yield,  one  day  with  another,  at  be 
tween  eight  and  ten  barrels."  On  the  lower  Alleghany,  I 
heard  of  a  well  lately  sold,  as  giving  thirty  barrels  a  day ; 
the  actual  yield  was  from  three  to  four !  Nor  are  such 
deceptions  and  frauds  infrequent ;  there  is  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  one-half  of  the  transactions  at  buying  and  sell 
ing  such  works,  or  interests  in  them,  over  the  whole  re 
gion  are  more  or  less  tinctured  with  fraud  and  falsehood. 

Some  time  since  an  anecdote  went  the  rounds  of  the 
papers,  about  a  well-owner  near  Franklin  having  discov 
ered  the  perpetual  motion  in  the  shape  of  a  secret  tank 
and  tube,  which  conveyed  oil  from  his  cistern  back  to  the 
well,  from  which  it  continued  to  be  pumped  and  re- 
pumped,  as  evidence  that  the  property  was  a  first-class 
concern.  The  man  in  charge  of  it  denied  to  me  that  the 
statement  had  any  foundation  in  fact;  and  I  here  give 
him  the  benefit  of  the  denial,  which,  however,  was  made 
before  any  charge  or  insinuation  was  preferred  on  my 
part.  The  well  he  did  not  represent  as  doing  more  than 
pay  working  expenses. 

Some  years  ago  a  firm  engaged  in  sinking  a  well  on 
their  premises,  situated  on  an  important  tributary  of  Oil 
Creek.  It  reached  the  depth  of  seven  hundred  feet, ir  with 
an  excellent  show  "  of  oil ;  indeed,  it  pumped  a  quantity 
in  presence  of  a  crowd  of  excited  spectators,  and  thus  con 
tributed  greatly  to  the  "  development "  of  that  "  territory." 
But  somehow  matters  went  wrong ;  and,  in  spite  of  favor 
able  appearances,  the  owners  let  that  fount  of  wealth  lie 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  217 

still.  One  of  them  informed  me,  "  she  was  never  fairly 
tested,"  which  is,  I  believe,  the  case  with  all  unprofitable 
works  of  the  sort.  "  In  wine  is  truth,"  says  the  proverb  ; 
and  from  one  who  was  approaching  the  "  highfalutin " 
state  I  learned  that  the  proprietors  had  judiciously  let 
down  the  contents  of  a  few  barrels,  by  night,  into  the  ori 
fice,  to  the  great  appreciation  of  values  in  that  remote 
neighborhood. 

There  is  a  story  told  about  a  smart  widow  who  resorted 
to  the  same  means  for  creating  good  "  surface  indications," 
enabling  her  to  sell  her  farm  at  a  high  figure.  Nature 
was,  however,  smarter  than  she ;  for  the  first  well  put 
down  proved  highly  productive — giving  one  hundred  bar 
rels  a  day,  in  fact.  Unfortunately,  all  outsiders  who  thus 
get  sold,  do  not  fare  quite  so  well  in  the  long  run. 

A  still  more  bold  and  successful  mode  of  misrepresenta 
tion  and  swindling  is  by  the  employment  of  mercenary 
professors,  pamphleteers,  correspondents,  etc.,  to  glorify 
all  that  appertains  to  Pctrolia,  excepting  the  mud  and 
perhaps  the  hotels,  which  can  be  roundly  abused  without 
any  detriment  to  the  oil  interest.  Not  that  every  penny- 
a-liner  is  necessarily  particeps  criminis  •  for  some  have  told 
the  truth  to  the  best  of  their  knowledge,  and  only  lacked 
time,  patience,  and  perhaps  means  to  remain  and  make 
their  inquiries  more  thorough.  Still,  there  is  as  little 
doubt  that  others,  of  the  sensation  class,  have  deliberately 
lent  themselves  to  mystify  the  outside  public,  by  dilating 
largely  on  the  productiveness  of  certain  first-class  wells, 
while  scarcely  squinting  at  the  hundred  times  as  many 
which  had  been  sunk  and  yielded  nothing  ;  by  recording 
carefully  the  careers  of  individual  oil  princes,  while  pass- 
ing  by  the  thousands  of  people  who  had  invested  largely 
10 


218  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  , 

and  got  back  nothing.  Any  such  one-sided  version  is,  if 
made  with  the  design  of  diverting  more  men  and  more 
money  to  the  oil  region,  or  appreciating  the  value  of  cer 
tain  kinds  of  property,  a  crime,  which  should  expose  the 
guilty  person  to  the  severest  condemnation,  if  there  is  no 
other  mode  of  bringing  him  to  a  sense  of  his  wrong. 
Even  the  careless  collection  for  publication  of  erroneous 
statistics  bearing  on  the  subject,  is  worthy  of  censure, 
though  the  person's  motive  may  not  have  been  base.  A 
gossipy  volume  on  the  subject,  just  issued  from  the  press, 
gives  a  "  rough  recapitulation  "  of  the  wells  on  Oil  Creek 
actually  put  down  at  four  hundred  and  eighty,  of  which 
one  hundred  and  eighty- nine  are  producing  wells.  In 
truth,  the  whole  number  of  wells  on  that  creek,  within 
four  miles  of  Oil  City,  is  above  five  hundred,  and  on  the 
creek  to  Titusville,  nearly  two  thousand.  A  rough  enough 
recapitulation,  in  all  conscience,  but  misleading  the  public 
as  to  the  proportion  of  producing  to  non-producing  wells. 
In  another  part  of  the  same  volume  the  writer  admits  that 
the  ratio  of  pa j ing  to  non-paying  wells  is  not  more'  than 
one  in  ten.* 

The  fact  is,  that  by  relying  principally  upon  official  re 
ports  or  the  statements  of  interested  parties,  newspaper 
correspondents  are  as  likely  to  be  duped  as  other  people. 
It  requires  not  a  day  or  two,  but  weeks  of  laborious  ef 
fort,  to  reach  the  THIRD  SAND-ROCK  OF  PETROLIA,  before 

*  The  same  looseness  in  the  use  of  figures  is  noticeable  in  all  parts  of  this 
scrap-book.  In  one  chapter,  the  hills  near  Oil  Creek  are  described  as  being 
from  two  hundred  to  one  thousand  feet  high.  There  is  not  one  height  in 
the  county  five  hundred  feet  above  the  Alleghany  !  Elsewhere  we  read  of 
derricks  being  one  hundred  feet  high,  and  the  like  !  Either  avoid  figures 
altogether  or  use  them  accurately. 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  219 

accomplishing  which  the  visitor  must  gain  the  confidence 
of  all  engaged  about  the  works — drillers,  engineers,  black 
smiths,  etc.,  as  well  as  officials  and  proprietors.  The  im 
pressions  which  I  formed  during  the  first  week,  although 
actively  at  work  every  day,  were  crude  and  incorrect  in 
sundry  particulars ;  how  much  more  if  I  had  been  most 
of  the  time  at  the  finger-ends  of  agents  and  speculators, 
who,  in  return  for  courtesies  shown,  expected  to  receive 
"  first-rate  notices  "  in  my  next  letter. 

What  I  blame  in  most  persons  who  have  attempted  to 
write  descriptions  of  the  oil  regions  is  this :  The  prizes 
in  Petrolian  lotteries  are  dramaticised,  historicised,  finan- 
cicised,  statisticised  to  the  point  of  weariness,  if  not  dis 
gust  ;  while  scarcely  so  much  as  a  passing  allusion  is  paid 
to  the  tenfold  more  numerous  ~blanks,  which  are  glossed 
over  without  eliciting  a  warning  note  or  word  of  advice. 
By  thus  concealing  one  side  of  the  truth,  a  man  commu 
nicates  to  the  public  essential  falsehood.  He  becomes  an 
agent  in  the  work  of  deception  and  roguery.  u  The  whole 
truth"  is  as  essential  in  giving  testimony  as  "  nothing  but 
the  truth."  The  Sherman,  the  Noble,  the  Empire,  the 
Philips,  the  Mountain,  the  Reed,  and  other  wells  are  familiar 
in  men's  lips  everywhere.  Not  an  adult  male,  from  Maine 
to  California,  but  has  heard  of  their  wonderful  perform 
ances,  dreamed  of  the  fabulous  wealth  poured  by  them 
into  individuals'  and  companies'  laps.  But  the  reading 
public  have  not  learned  (the  fact  having  been  studiously 
concealed)  that  nine  out  of  every  ten,  if  not  nineteen  out 
of  every  twenty,  wells  sunk  since  1859  have  not  paid 
their  first  cost ;  and  that  a  portion  of  the  residue  have 
done  little  more  than  return  cost  and  operating  expenses. 
The  public  have  not  been  informed  that  the  best  wells 


220  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in. 

give  out  in  time — ordinarily  in  eighteen  months ;  and  that 
the  copious  supplies  poured  forth  when  first  striking  oil 
are  morally  certain  to  diminish  fifty  per  cent  within  thirty 
days,  and  seventy -five  per  cent  before  six  months.  They 
have  not  been  told  that  the  princely  fortunes  acquired 
have  been  gained  less  by  the  bona-fide  yield  of  petroleum 
than  by  speculation,  which  involves  more  or  less  of  mis 
representation  and  fraud  practised  upon  strangers.  The 
credit  side  of  the  account  is  glowingly  depicted — its  few 
millionaires  ablaze  with  diamonds,  which,  unfortunately, 
make  their  original  lack  of  culture  only  the  more  ridicu 
lous  ;  the  debit  side,  representing  hundreds  of  thousands 
who  have  invested  nearly  all  their  surplus  means,  in  a 
majority  of  cases  never  to  be  returned,  is  covered  with  a 
fly -leaf,  in  order  that  fresh  batches  of  pilgrims  may  pros 
trate  themselves  before  the  wheels  of  this  Juggernaut. 

Nor  are  the  men  who  write  for  our  public  prints  alone 
to  blame.  The  fact  is,  the  popular  taste  gives  character 
to  the  print.  Many  men  can  no  more  do  without  their 
daily  sensation  than  topers  without  their  morning  "  bit 
ters."  They  would  rather  be  gulled,  cheated,  victimized 
by  an  editor  than  take  his  paper  if  it  be  dull.  They  have 
their  reward !  The  morning  paper  which  stands  at  the 
head  of  American  sensation  journals  led  off  in  the  ex 
citement  about  Petrolia.  Thousands  of  its  readers  have 
seen  their  tills  emptied  in  consequence  ;  but  what  of  this, 
as  long  as  they  enjoyed  the  luxury  of  a  fresh  sensation? 

There  is  also  on  the  part  of  others  a  feeling  of  what 
may  be  termed  shameless  shame,  sometimes  a  species  of 
malicious  pleasure,  which,  while  refusing  to  confess  hav 
ing  been  victimized,  enjoys  the  comfort  of  being  in  com 
pany.  Misery  derives  consolation  from  seeing  others  as 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  221 

miserable  as  itself.  Instances  have  not  been  wanting  of 
persons  who,  having  lost  all  in  wild  adventures,  chuckled 
at  their  neighbors  being  also  heavy  losers.  Hence  the 
returned  Petrolian,  however  sorely  disappointed,  often 
prefers  placing  his  finger  on  his  lip  to  making  disclosures 
which  might  cause  him  to  be  laughed  at.  Indeed,  this 
disposition  to  enjoy  others'  misfortunes  is  only  one  man 
ifestation  of  the  wrong  complained  of. 

But  while  the  public  receive  one-sided  versions  of  the 
country  and  its  production,  rash  persons  will  always  be 
found  in  abundance  to  rush  to  the  "  diggings,"  or  to  in 
vest  their  surplus  means  in  new  or  old  oil-wells,  regardless 
of  the  excessive  royalties  charged,  the  cost  of  land,  labor, 
and  materials.  These  may  be  double  or  quadruple  what 
they  ought  to  be,  while  petroleum  may  have  sunk  in  price 
from  one-third  to  one-half  its  former  figure,  with  a  new 
government  duty  weighing  heavily  upon  it.  What  cares 
Eecklessness,  young,  daring,  impetuous,  believing  in 
chance,  and  blinded  by  the  glitter  of  Peter  O'Leum's 
equipage  and  jewelry?  He  is  not  going  to  calculate  prob 
abilities,  like  some  old  fogy,  but  rush  in  and  trust  to  luck. 
If  he  cuts  his  wisdom-teeth  in  Petrolia  and  comes  back  a 
more  prudent  man,  he  has  scarcely  just  cause  to  regret 
having  parted  with  all  his  loose  change  to  master  such  a 
lesson. 

One  mode  by  which  shrewd  operators  contrive  to  fleece 
outside  agents  and  others  is  this  :  On  lands  lying  contig 
uous  to  productive  wells,  called,  in  the  jargon  of  the 
country,  "  good  oil  territory,"  they  erect  derricks  and  be 
gin  to  bore,  not  with  the  direct  object  of  reaching,  pump 
ing,  and  selling  petroleum,  but  to  part  with  interests  in 
tbe  work,  as  it  progresses,  or  after  completion,  at  extra va- 


222  How  Strangers  are  Taken  In. 

gant  figures.  The  stranger  comes  along,  observes  the 
operations,  asks  the  usual  questions,  and  then  reasons  thus : 
u After  all,  I  know  nothing  about  'surface  indications,' 
or  other  signs  by  which  experts  can  detect  or  infer  the 
existence  of  oil.  But  yonder  is  the  Great  Greyser,  yielding 
two  hundred  barrels  per  day,  and  here  are  experienced 
operators,  who  have  invested  their  means  in  an  enterprise 
promising,  as  they  believe,  an  abundant  return.  They 
expect  to  strike  oil  before  three  days,  and  I  can  readily  be 
lieve  them,  seeing  they  have  put  their  own  money  into 
the  undertaking.  They  ask  ten  thousand  dollars  for  a 
quarter-interest  in  the  well,  and  if  they  only  succeed,  what 
is  a  paltry  ten  thousand  to  a  company  like  ours  ?  Twenty- 
five  barrels  a  day,  at  six  dollars  per  barrel,  [the  estimated 
1  unit  of  measurement'  is  a  yield  of  one  hundred  barrels 
per  diem,]  would  repay  the  cost  in  little  more  than  eleven 
weeks,  and  all  beyond  will  be  profit.  The  best  thing  I 
can  do  is  to  accept  the  offer  and  close  the  bargain  forth 
with,  since,  after  striking  oil,  they  would  not  sell  the  in 
terest  for  ten  times  as  much."  So  he  buys.  The  same 
operation  is  repeated  by  others  visiting  the  ground,  until 
perhaps  scarcely  a  fraction  of  the  original  interest  remains 
in  the  hands  of  the  operators,  who  have  meanwhile  pock 
eted  several  times  the  amount  of  their  actual  outlay.  Oil 
or  no  oil  is  of  the  slightest  consequence  to  them ;  they 
can  pull  up  stakes  and  renew  the  proceedings  elsewhere. 
By  such  methods  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
change  hands  every  year  in  the  oil  regions;  and  a  consid 
erable  body  of  industrious  operators,  knowing  precisely 
as  much  of  the  oil-veins  as  do  the  strangers  thus  sold, 
make  fortunes  in  a  few  years.  ISTor  is  it  necessary  to  re 
sort  to  very  many  or  very  glaring  falsehoods  for  this  pur- 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  223 

pose,  because  the  purchasers,  as  a  rule,  have  been  intoxicat 
ed  before  entering  the  valleys.  Indeed  a  little  bravado 
something  like,  "  We  don't  know  whether  we  shall  cer 
tainly  get  oil  or  not,  mister.  We  must  take  our  chances, 
and  feel  satisfied  with  the  prospect,"  is  often  all  that  is 
needed  as  condiment  to  the  more  solid  facts  and  figures 
derivable  from  the  history  of  other  wells. 

In  describing  the  swindling  operations  or  sharp  practice 
resorted  to  in  the  oil  regions,  it  would  be  a  glaring  over 
sight  to  omit  mention  of  those  perpetrated  by  engineers 
(civil  and  uncivil)  who  have  visited  that  country,  bought 
lands,  leased  lands,  or  secured  the  refusal  of  lands  for  a 
time,  and  then  gone  East  or  West  to  organize  companies 
for  "developing"  their  "territory."  Mr.  C.  E.  visits  his 
sweet  native  village  or  city,  taking  care  to  announce  his 
advent  in  advance,  and  giving  rumor  sufficient  hints  that 
he  has  made  his  "  pile,"  to  insure  a  sufficiently  favorable 
reception.  This  impression  he  confirms  rather  by  innu 
endoes  than  by  positive  assertions  such  as  might  bring  him 
into  too  close  contact  with  internal-revenue  agents  ;  much 
less  does  he  explain  the  modes  by  which  he  has  accom 
plished  his  great  work,  lest  it  might  offend  the  more  fas 
tidiously  honest.  He  has  maps  of  the  country  to  exhibit 
for  nothing,  the  places  where  he  proposes  to  operate  being 
marked  in  blue  and  gold.  He  explains  gratuitously  how 
beautifully  they  line  in  to  A.  B.'s  "  territory,"  from  which 
hundreds  of  barrels  of  oil  are  taken  every  day,  and  of 
which  a  one-sixteenth  interest  sold  for  thirty  thousand 
dollars  the  other  week  ;  how  trifling  is  the  cost  compared 
with  "  territory"  purchased  by  other  companies  in  the 
game  neighborhood  ;  how  he  is  ready  to  organize  a  stock 
company,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 


224  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in. 

capital,  and  then  put  down  twenty  wells  the  ensuing  sum 
mer.  He  has  taken  care  to  procure  the  names  of  two  or 
three  prominent  men  as  president  and  directors — men  who 
have  probably  no  more  practical  knowledge  of  the  busi 
ness  than  they  have  of  whale-fishing,  but  will  leave  the 
entire  management  in  his  own  hands.  The  shares  are  put 
at  figures  sufficiently  low  to  be  taken  by  every  housemaid 
in  the  place  ;  and  besides  this,  it  is  announced  that  only  a 
nominal  sum  will  be  called  for  upon  each  share  taken. 
The  project  takes,  of  course ;  for  men,  whether  in  cities 
or  villages,  are  gullible  beings.  The  scheme  is  largely 
advertised  in  the  local  papers,  and  receives  the  usual 
"  first-rate  notices,"  as  what  scheme  with  money  in  it  will 
not  ?  Shares  are  freely  distributed  among  friends  of  the 
management  and  others,  whose  countenance  may  be  judg 
ed  necessary  to  the  success  of  the  project.  [The  outside 
world,  and  even  ordinary  stockholders,  know  nothing 
about  the  science  of  "  watering"  stocks.]  In  the  mean 
time,  C.  E.,  Esq.,  who  bought  the  tract  at  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  per  acre,  or  the  right  of  refusal  for  fifteen 
hundred  dollars,  has  disposed  of  it  to  the  new  company 
at  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  per  acre,  besides  retaining 
for  himself  a  comfortable  berth  as  an  officer  on  the  ground. 
He  ought  to  have  cleared  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
by  the  transaction,  or  he  has  sold  the  company  "  dirt 
cheap."  Should  any  of  the  other  officials  visit  the  prop 
erty,  they  may  find  it  to  consist  of  a  narrow  strip  of  bot 
tom-land  or  ravine,  the  residue  being  mountain,  from 
which  the  prospect  of  every  thing  except  oil  is  entrancing. 
If  this  company-maker  be  not  a  civil  engineer,  but  a 
retired  oil-prince,  who  has  "  made  money  enough,"  and 
has  no  ambition  to  operate  further,  except  with  the  laud- 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  225 

able  intention  of  benefiting  his  less  affluent  neighbors — 
he  having  a  dash  of  benevolence  in  his  mental  composi 
tion — his  success  in  procuring  subscriptions  may  with 
certainty  be  predicted,  For  he  has  broad  acres,  a  costly 
establishment,  a  gorgeous  equipage,  a  bank-book,  a  be- 
jeweled  wife,  to  produce  as  proofs  that  Petrolia  is  no  hum 
bug,  but  a  magnificent  reality.  And  it  may  be  added, 
neither  is  dealing  in  lottery  policies  to  those  who  follow 
the  avocation.  Millions  of  money  await  his  word  of  com 
mand.  Thousands  of  fortune-hunters  esteem  it  a  favor  to 
be  by  the  great  Fortunatus  relieved  of  their  greenbacks. 
To  insinuate  that  lie  would  take  advantage  of  them  by 
selling  them  mountain  lands  or  pocketing  fifty  thousand 
dollars  for  his  services — -faugh  ! 

An  acquaintance  of  mine  was  once  strolling  through 
the  heart  of  Petrolia,  seeing  what  he  could  see.  Stopping 
at  a  well,  he  inquired  of  a  man  who  appeared  to  be  pro 
prietor  its  ordinary  yield,  and  was  told  twenty  barrels  a 
day.  The  owner  having  got  the  impression  that  the  other 
was  a  correspondent,  addressed  him  thus  :  "  I  want  to  sell 
her ;  and  if  you'll  give  her  such  a  notice  in  the  paper  as 

will  bring  me  a  customer  at dollars,  I  will  give 

you  per  cent  for  your  share.  .  .  You  won't  ? 

"Well,  what  will  you  take  ?"  If  he  had  not  understood 
the  profession  to  be  venal,  would  he  have  made  the  pro 
position  so  barefacedly,  knowing  that  its  actual  yield  was 
less  than  one-half  of  the  quantity  stated  ? 

In  rating  the  productiveness  of  wells  there  is  apt  to  be 
so  much  exaggeration  that  the  initiated  invariably  reduce 
the  figures  given,  in  answer  to  such  inquiries,  one-third 
or  one-half,  sometimes  even  two-thirds.  In  falsifying, 
however,  some  regard  is  paid  to  the  semblance  of  truth, 


226  How  Strangers  are  Taken  in. 

in  order  probably  to  avoid  legal  proceedings  afterward. 
On  this  account,  what  wears  the  mask  of  veracity  is 
more  dangerous  than  glaring  falsehood.  Thus,  the  term 
"  yield,"  in  speaking  of  a  well,  may  comprise  brine  as 
well  as  oil,  the  proportions  of  each  to  each  ranging  from 
one  to  ninety-nine  per  cent.  Now,  it  is  exceedingly  dif 
ficult  for  a  new-comer  to  estimate  accurately  the  ratio  of 
water  to  pure  petroleum,  and  the  matter  is  likely  enough 
to  escape  his  notice  altogether.  Again,  it  happens  some 
times  that  a  well  is  suffered  to  remain  idle  a  day  or  a  week, 
at  the  end  of  which  it  is  pumped  out,  and  "  rated  "  at  the 
product  for  that  day.  To  an  inquiry  as  to  what  it  is  doing, 
the  stranger  is  carelessly  told  :  "  Yesterday,  when  we 
tested  her,  she  gave  forty-five  barrels."  Its  average  pro 
duct  may  not  be  ten.  A  less  transparent  mode  of  swind 
ling  is  not  to  test  its  actual  yield  at  all,  when  on  the  de 
cline,  but  to  rate  it  at  what  it  was  in  its  palmiest  days, 
using  the  conveniently  loose  phrase  :  "  She's  a  two  hun 
dred  barrel  well."  In  the  absence  of  a  recent  and  accu 
rate  test,  the  person  in  search  of  information  may  certain 
ly  infer  that  a  decline  has  set  in,  otherwise  the  telegraph 
would  have  kept  talking  about  the  Big  Squirt,  within  the 
last  forty-eight  hours.  The  maxim  that  silence  gives  con 
sent  must  be  interpreted  by  the  rule  of  contraries  in  the 
oil  regions. 

If  I  have  thus  exposed  certain  of  the  less  notorious  ar 
tifices  by  which  the  unsuspecting,  and  even  some  of  the 
most  wary,  are  fleeced,  it  is  not  with  the  design  of  war 
ring  on  Petrolia  or  its  master-spirits,  much  less  retarding 
its  prosperity  in  future.  For  it  is  indisputable  that  no 
well  will  sympathize  with  its  owners'  reputation  merely 
to  the  extent  of  one  pint  in  seven  years.  And  the  abid- 


How  Strangers  are  Taken  in.  227 

ing  prosperity  of  that  section  of  country,  with  the  true 
welfare  of  its  population,  will  be  promoted,  not  damaged, 
by  putting  a  stop  to  the  devices  by  which  unsuspecting 
men  and  women,  even  widows  and  orphans,  are  stripped, 
and  scalped,  and  flayed,  and  packed  to  the  bone  by  a  gen 
eration  of  sharpers.  These  of  right  no  more  constitute 
the  people  of  Petrolia  than  did  the  slave-owning  aristo 
cracy  of  Dixie  constitute  "  the  South."  Whether  the  acre 
of  land  shall  sell  for  five  hundred  or  five  thousand  dol 
lars  matters  nothing  to  the  aggregate  production  of  oil ; 
and  ultimately  this  production  is  likely  rather  to  increase 
than  to  fall  off  from  an  exposure  of  how  strangers  are 
taken  in. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

OUGHT  I  TO   INVEST  IN   PETROLIA,  AND  HOW  ? 

AT  last  we  have  obtained,  in  the  shape  of  facts  and 
figures,  something  definite,  tangible,  trustworthy,  as  to  the 
productiveness  of  the  Pennsylvania  oil  region.  In  the 
month  of  April  the  wells  actually  yielded  eight  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  per  day,  which  is  equiva- 
ent  to  three  millions  of  barrels  a  year — to  be  increased  at 
least  half  a  million  by  additions  during  the  spring  months. 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  asserting  that  the  production  for 
1865  promises  to  be  nearer  four  millions  than  three  ;  and, 
indeed,  may  amount  to  all  of  the  former  figure.  But 
without  speculating  too  much  as  to  the  future,  let  us  pro 
ceed  to  reckon  up  values  upon  facts  as  they  are. 

During  the  past  five  years  the  price  of  petroleum  at  the 
wells  has  ranged  from  ten  cents  to  thirteen  dollars  and 
fifty  cents  per  barrel.  In  the  latter  part  of  1861,  owing 
to  the  outbreak  of  a  large  number  of  flowing  wells,  bring 
ing  the  supply  suddenly  up  from  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  three  thousand  or  four  thousand  barrels  per  day,  the 
market  value  sunk  so  low  that  the  cost  of  the  barrel  ex 
ceeded  that  of  its  contents ;  indeed,  for  illuminating  oil, 
twenty-five  cents  per  barrel  was  thought  a  high  figure. 
This  extraordinary  cheapness  had  the  effect  of  forcing  the 
article  into  all  parts  of  the  country  open  to  domestic  trade, 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  f     229 

and  even  into  Europe,  where  a  large  demand  sprang  up. 
In  1862  there  was  a  considerable  improvement  in  prices, 
but  in  the  spring  of  1863  they  again  receded  from  ten 
dollars  to  thirty  or  forty  cents  per  barrel,  in  consequence 
of  large  numbers  of  flowing  wells  beginning  to  pour 
forth  their  liquid  treasures.  From  that  time  an  advance 
took  place,  and  continued  steadily  till  the  middle  of  last 
winter,  when  it  stopped  at  thirteen  dollars  and  fifty  cents. 
Various  causes,  the  principal  of  which  was  a  panic  in  the 
money-market,  made  prices  again  recede  ;  and  in  April 
illuminating  oil  sold  for  only  three  dollars  per  barrel  at 
the  wells.  Since  then  the  movement  has  been  slowly 
but  gradually  upward. 

I  shall  assume,  then,  that  during  this  period  the  average 
price  has  been  midway  between  the  extremes,  namely,  ten 
cents  and  thirteen  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  which  would 
be  equivalent  to  six  dollars  and  eighty  cents*  per  barrel. 
The  times  in  which  it  has  been  below  that  figure  will  not 
be  found  to  differ  materially  in  duration  from  those  in 
which  it  has  been  above.  As  a  rule,  producers  dispose  of 
their  oil  from  week  to  week,  their  tankage  being  insuffi 
cient  to  retain  quantities  for  a  long  time  on  hand.  Be 
sides,  the  danger  from  fire  and  flood  is  such  that  if  it 
were  possible  to  hoard  up,  it  would  not  be  judged  advis 
able. 

Taking  this  as  a  standard,  then,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 

*  Perhaps  an  extra  allowance  of  one  or  two  cents  per  barrel  should  be 
made  for  the  higher  price  paid  for  lubricating  oil  on  French  Creek,  and  a 
small  section  of  the  Alleghany.  But  as  the  entire  product  of  this  quality 
has  probably  never  gone  up  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  per  day,  and  is 
now  under  one  hundred,  it  was  not  thought  worth  while  to  take  the  differ 
ence  into  account,  the  values  being  only  approximations  to  the  actual  fig- 


230     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  f 

actual  yield  in  April  was  worth  the  sum  of  sixty  thousand 
one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  per  day,  or  twenty  mil 
lion  four  hundred  and  sixty-one  thousand  three  hundred 
dollars  per  annum.  Taking  into  account  the  net  increase 
to  be  made  during  the  spring  months,  the  gross  receipts 
of  Petrolia,  from  oil  only,  during  the  year,  would  amount 
to  twenty-three  million  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  may  run  up,  in  1865,  to  twenty-five  millions. 

So  much  for  the  crude  article,  delivered  at  the  works  ; 
but  it  is  manifest  that  the  additional  value  given  by  re 
fining  the  oil,  and  the  cost  of  barrels,  transportation,  stor 
age,  and  the  like,  enter  into  the  regular,  legitimate  re 
ceipts  of  the  Petrolians  from  this  product.  Ten  millions  of 
dollars  would  not  be  a  too  liberal  estimate  for  all  these 
services,  making  the  yearly  receipts  from  the  oil  business 
between  thirty  and  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars. 

But  in  truth  this  has  not  been  its  principal  source  of 
income  at  some  times.  For  the  enormous  profits  realized 
by  land  speculators,  during  periods  of  excitement,  such  as 
prevailed  last  winter ;  the  flood  of  strangers  pouring  into 
the  valleys  from  every  direction,  with  the  mechanics  and 
laborers  seeking  employment — all  spending  money  lav 
ishly,  and  most  of  it  remaining  in  that  country  as  profits 
— have  added  almost  incalculable  sums  to  the  vast  aggre 
gate  given  above ;  and  making  the  grand  total,  one  year 
with  another,  probably  not  far  from  fifty  millions  of  dol 
lars  per  annum — a  sum  equal  to  the  receipts  of  the  gene 
ral  government  twenty  years  ago. 

Up  to  this  time  the  most  diverse  as  well  as  extravagant 
estimates  of  the  productions  of  Petrolia  have  been  set 
afloat  by  writers,  who  seemed  to  have  adopted  the  maxim, 
in  such  matters :  "  Guess  at  half  the  amount  and  then 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  f     231 

multiply  by  two  !"  One  of  these  "  authorities  "  puts  the 
production  of  1865  at  the  modest  sum  of  seventy-five  mil 
lion  dollars,  of  which  probably  not  more  than  two  million 
dollars  will  be  paid  out  as  working  expenses !  It  is  patent 
that  he  has  never  been  within  one  hundred  miles  of  the 
country,  or  that  he  is  doing  his  best  to  mislead  the  public. 
In  accordance  with  these  magnificent  calculations,  he  sets 
down  the  capital  invested  in  petroleum  wells,  lands,  etc., 
at  four  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars.  It  might  just 
as  correctly  have  been  set  down  at  a  round  billion,  which 
would  have  been  still  more  easily  remembered.  Every 
person  knows  that  the  nominal  capital  of  most  companies 
affords  no  index  to  the  money  actually  paid  in,  making 
no  allowance  for  the  shares  distributed  among  "  friends  at 
court,"  in  order  to  secure  their  influence  or  their  names 
as  officers.  If  the  profits,  both  gross  and  net,  have  been 
magnified  out  of  all  just  proportion,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  estimated  amount  of  capital  invested  has  gone 
through  a  like  process.  "  The  annual  amount  of  the  oil- 
product  from  the  old  wells,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  is  suffi 
cient  to  pay  over  twelve  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  aggre 
gate  total  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars,  esti 
mated  nominal  capital  invested  in  the  business."  I  have 
no  patience  in  reading  such  stuff,  and  shall  not  weary  the 
reader's  patience  in  attempting  to  refute  it. 

The  Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade,  in  their  annual  re 
port  for  1864,  estimate  the  value  of  the  product  of  petro 
leum  for  that  year  at  forty-six  million  nine  hundred  and 
nineteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty  dollars,  or  only 
sixteen  per  cent  less  than  that  of  the  iron  product  of  the 
state,  and  two-thirds  of  the  value  of  the  coal-product.  A 
decided  drawback  on  these  figures  is  that  the  learned 


232      Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f 

statistician  omitted  the  odd  cents  !  The  former  writer 
guessed  the  product,  and  multiplied  it  by  three  ;  the  latter 
stopped  with  doubling  the  figures ! 

Number  Three  steps  forward,  and  gravely  announces 
that  all  those  estimates  are  huge  exaggerations,  the  yield 
being  now  not  more  than  six  thousand  barrels  per  day, 
against  ten  thousand  or  twelve  thousand  in  1862.  This 
would  make  the  annual  value  of  petroleum  at  the  wells 
amount  to  thirteen  million  seven  hundred  and  ninety 
thousand  four  hundred  dollars,  or  a  little  more  than  one- 
sixth  of  the  first  estimate !  Even  if  we  add  fifty  per  cent 
for  refining,  transporting,  etc.,  the  total  would  be  only 
twenty  and  a  half  millions,  minus  the  operating  expenses, 
government  taxes,  and  the  cost  of  replacement. 

I  have  no  means  of  estimating  the  productions  of  for 
mer  years,  and  hence  institute  no  comparisons  as  to  in 
crease  or  decrease.  I  am,  however,  fully  satisfied  that  no 
such  falling  off  (forty  to  fifty  per  cent)  has  taken  place  as 
is  represented,  and  perhaps  no  falling  off  at  all.  Indeed, 
considering  the  veins  opened  on  Cherry  Run,  in  1864,  it 
would  seem  that  there  must  have  been  rather  a  gain  than 
a  loss.  The  tables  of  exportation,  at  all  events,  do  not 
warrant  the  belief  that  there  has  been  a  decrease.  In 
1862  the  number  of  gallons  of  the  oil-product,  including 
crude,  refined,  and  naphtha,  was  ten  million  three  hun 
dred  and  eighty-seven  thousand  seven  hundred  and  one  ; 
in  1863,  twenty-eight  million  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou 
sand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-one ;  and  in  1864,  thirty- 
one  million  seven  hundred  and  ninety-two  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  seventy-two.  From  the  single  port  of  New- 
York  alone  last  year  were  exported  five  hundred  and 
thirty-three  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety -four  bar- 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f     233 

rels,  against  four  hundred  and  eighty-eight  thousand  six 
hundred  and  ninety  the  preceding  year;  and  from  all 
other  ports,  two  hundred  and  sixty -one  thousand  three 
hundred  and  nineteen,  against  two  hundred  and  seventeen 
thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-six  barrels  in  1863. 
There  is  no  likelihood  that  the  exportations  of  1865  will 
fall  behind  those  of  last  year,  but  the  reverse ;  while  the 
home  consumption  will  certainly  be  on  the  increase. 
With  these  data  before  us,  and  the  knowledge  that  a 
heavy  fall  in  the  price  of  petroleum  has  taken  place  this 
season,  we  may  dismiss  all  fears  about  a  diminished  yield 
having  already  begun. 

The  statements  given  above  show  what  a  degree  of 
looseness  has  hitherto  prevailed  in  making  calculations 
of  incomes,  profits,  business  prospects,  and  the  like.  In 
fact,  every  thing  has  been  conducted  in  the  most  reck 
less,  hap-hazard  manner  imaginable,  as  if  it  were  as  diffi 
cult  to  arrive  at  the  actual  statistics  of  production  as  it  is 
to  strike  an  oil- vein  from  superficial  examinations  only. 
The  author  of  Derrick  and  Drill — a  volume  which,  what 
ever  the  slovenliness  of  its  arrangement,  was  manifestly 
not  written  with  a  view  to  deceive — assumes  that  there 
are  "no  reliable  statistics,"  and  gives  up  the  attempt  to 
discover  the  truth  in  despair. 

While  I  have  estimated  the  actual  receipts  of  Petrolia, 
from  the  oil  business  only,  at  between  thirty  million  and 
thirty-five  million  dollars  a  year,  and  those  arising  from  the 
sale  of  crude  oil  at  the  wells,  at  twenty  million  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  with  a  probable  increase  to  nearly  twenty- 
four  million  dollars,  it  will  not  do  to  reckon  this  as  such 
a  rate  per  cent  of  dividend  on  so  much  capital  invested. 
For,  first,  there  must  be  deducted  therefrom  working  ex- 


234     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  ? 

penses  •  and,  second,  an  amount  sufficing  to  constitute  a 
renewal  fund — that  is,  to  replace  the  old  well  when  it 
gives  out,  by  a  new  one  equally  productive.  Thirdly, 
there  is  the  government  tax  of  one  dollar  per  barrel. 
These  matters  have  never  been  reduced  to  any  thing  like 
a  system ;  and  I  am  well  aware  that,  in  attempting  to  dis 
cuss  them  here,  I  am  rather  opening  questions  than  set 
tling  them.  To  arrive  at  accuracy  in  the  matter,  twelve 
months'  examination  of  the  country  and  the  history  of  its 
wells  would  be  requisite. 

Of  the  whole  number  of  works  on  my  list,  (three  hun 
dred  and  twelve)  only  fifty-two  are  marked  as  flowing 
wells.  I  have  not  been  sufficiently  careful  in  every  case 
to  mark  the  distinction  on  my  memorandum-books,  but 
am  positive  that  the  total  of  these  "  institutions  "  is  under 
seventy,  and  believe  it  to  be  less  than  sixty. 

Let  us  assume,  then,  the  last  as  the  actual  number. 
This  would  leave,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  the  number  of 
pumping  wells  yielding  oil  at  about  two  hundred  and  fifty. 
But  to  this  should  be  added  those  undergoing  repairs  and 
those  exhausting  the  water — at  least  one  hundred  in  all, 
and  making  three  hundred  and  fifty  requiring  fuel, 
repairs,  and  wages  for  attendance. 

Here  again,  however,  we  confront  "  the  law  of  lawless 
ness,"  a  few  of  those  wells  running  night  and  day,  some 
seven  days  in  the  week,  others  using  their  own  gas  as 
fuel,  several  engines  pumping  two  wells,  while  others  per 
form  their  work  in  three  or  four  hours  per  day.  Taking 
these  and  other  irregularities  into  account,  it  will  be  seen 
that,  to  arrive  at  an  accurate  estimate  of  average  working 
expenses  would  involve  no  small  amount  of  time  and 
labor,  to  say  nothing  of  the  outlay.  But  an  approxima- 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  f     235 

tive  estimate  to  each  well  of  seven  dollars  per  day  for  fuel, 
and  fourteen  dollars  for  superintendence,  wages,  and  re 
pairs,  or  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  per  week 
for  each  paying  well,  will  not  be  found  very  wide  of  the 
mark.  This  sum,  multiplied  by  three  hundred  and  fifty, 
the  number  of  pumping  concerns,  will  give  as  the  total 
working  expenses — two  million  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars,  to  which  should  be  added  (say)  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  superin 
tendence,  wages,  and  repairs  to  the  flowing  wells,  and 
making  the  aggregate  outlays  for  operating  expenses,  two 
millions  and  a  half  of  dollars. 

The  next  item  to  be  taken  into  account  is  wear  and  tear 
or  the  replacing  of  exhausted  wells,  as  they  give  out,  by 
new  ones.  Here  again  a  number  of  circumstances  must 
be  taken  into  account,  not  likely  to  be  noticed  by  the  un 
initiated.  In  the  first  place,  numbers  of  wells  in  operation 
are  not  paying  their  way,  but  kept  going  either  with  the 
expectation  of  finding  purchasers,  or  that  they  may  turn 
out  better  in  time  to  come.  Thus,  the  one  which  has 
been  three  years  in  operation,  and  is  now  producing  only 
as  many  barrels  of  common  oil  daily,  even  if  pumped 
every  day  from  January  to  December,  is  unprofitable,  and 
might  better  have  been  abandoned  long  ago.  It  will  not 
do  to  put  down  three  years  as  the  period  of  its  produc 
tiveness,  but  only  that  in  which  it  actually  earned  a  profit 
above  working  expenses. 

The  prevalent  idea  that  wells  can  be  "  rejuvenated"  or 
"  resuscitated,"  so  as  to  be  nearly  as  good  as  new,  is  es 
sentially  a  mistaken  one.  The  Sherman,  at  one  time  flow 
ing  fifteen  hundred  barrels  per  day,  has  been  resuscitated, 
by  the  blower,  to  tbe  grade  of  fifty  or  sixty  barrels.  The 


236      Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  ? 

blower  and  the  pump  have  both  failed  to  rejuvenate  the 
Noble.  The  great  Philips  is  no  longer  Philips  drunk, 
but  Philips  sober,  pumping  fifty  barrels  instead  of  flowing 
nearly  four  thousand.  How  long  even  this  may  continue, 
is  simply  matter  of  conjecture.  The  best  of  wells,  after 
deepening,  re-reaming,  and  using  every  known  appliance 
to  force  up  the  oil,  have  failed  to  become  even  second- 
class  concerns.  Their  sources  of  supply  are  manifestly 
rather  the  leakings  and  oozings  out  of  thousands  of  little 
crevices  in  the  subterranean  world  than  the  fountains 
which  leaped  upward  so  impetuously  when  first  tapped. 

From  the  best  information  accessible,  I  am  led  to  esti 
mate  the  average  period  of  a  good  well's  productiveness 
at  eighteen  months.  In  a  majority  of  instances  the  re 
pairing  and  tinkering  done  after  that  date  does  not  pay. 
In  any  case  the  purchaser  should  be  careful  not  to  accept 
the  first  day  or  two's  yield  thereafter  as  evidence  of  what 
it  will  be  on  the  average.  Now,  to  reach  one  productive 
source,  with  all  the  knowledge  that  has  been  gathered,  it 
is  necessary  to  put  down  five  wells.  Some  persons  say 
that  one-fourth  of  those  now  sunk  become  profitable ;  but 
taking  the  entire  oil  region,  I  am  within  the  mark  in  set 
ting  down  the  ratio  at  one  in  five.  Now,  assuming  that 
machinery  has  only  to  be  provided  for  the  first,  and  that 
the  depth  will  be  five  hundred  feet,  the  cost  of  re 
newals  will  amount  to  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  This, 
multiplied  by  four  hundred,  the  number  of  works  already 
or  prospectively  yielding,  would  require  an  outlay,  every 
eighteen  months,  of  ten  million  dollars.  I  do  not  see  how 
this  heavy  drawback  can  be  safely  reduced  below  five  mil 
lions  of  dollars  per  annum,  which  would  imply  renewal 
only  once  in  two  years.  In  point  of  fact,  the  newly  in- 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petvolia,  and  Sow  f     237 

$ 

vested  capital  in  the  oil  region  is  used  to  replace  the  old 
works  as  they  give  out,  much  of  the  original  capital  hav 
ing  disappeared  for  ever,  either  as  unearned  dividends,  or 
gone  to  the  wrong  side  of  the  profit  and  loss  account. 

Lastly,  we  have  the  government  tax  of  one  dollar  per 
barrel  on  crude  petroleum.  There  is  a  short  and  easy 
method  of  arriving  at  the  amount  of  that :  If  the  yield  for 
1865  be  three  million  five  hundred  thousand  barrels,  the 
excise  duty  will  amount  to  precisely  three  millions  and  a 
half  of  dollars. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  cast  up  the  account,  as 
follows : 

Value  of  the  crude  oil  at  the  wells,  (say,) $24,000,000 

Operating  expenses, $2,500,000 

Cost  of  replacing  works, 5,000,000 

Government  excise, 3,500,000  11,000,000 

Net  profit,  (say,) $13,000,000 

This  would  pay  seven  per  cent  per  annum,  on  a  bona- 
fide  capital  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  million  seven 
hundred  and  fourteen  thousand  dollars. 

The  political  and  commercial  aspects  of  the  subject  re 
main  to  be  considered,  and  to  these  I  propose  to  devote  a 
few  words  only. 

Had  the  demand  for  American  breadstuffs  in  Europe 
continued,  during  1863  and  1864,  as  active  as  during  the 
two  previous  years,  it  appears  to  me  very  questionable 
whether  the  diversion  of  so  much  capital  and  labor  from 
the  fields  to  the  oil  regions  would  have  proved  beneficial 
to  us  as  a  nation,  in  keeping  our  exports  at  about  an 
equilibrium  with  our  imports.  It  is  not  probable  that  the 
receipts,  in  currency  or  its  equivalent,  amounted  to 
twenty-five  million  dollars  last  year,  for  crude  and  refined 


238     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  ? 

oil,  naphtha,  or  other  products  of  petroleum.  As  a  people, 
we  would  have  been  quite  as  much  enriched  by  twenty- 
five  millions  or  its  equivalent  in  return  for  wheat,  flour, 
or  corn,  cotton,  tobacco,  or  rice,  as  for  petroleum,  and  no 
more.  But  it  happened,  very  fortunately  for  us,  as  re 
spects  our  trade  with  foreign  countries,  that  about  the 
time  when  the  demand  for  breadstuffs  fell  off,  petroleum 
found  its  way  into  market.  By  exporting  it  in  such  quan 
tities,  our  government  was  enabled  to  make  extensive 
purchases  of  war  material  abroad,  without  exporting  the 
precious  metals  in  such  quantity  as  might  have  generated 
a  panic  at  home,  and  thus  have  brought  its  own  credit 
into  disrepute  at  the  moment  when  the  scale  began  to 
turn  decisively  against  the  rebellion.  As  an  instrument 
for  buoying  up  the  hopes  of  the  people  during  a  most  ter 
rible  crisis,  I  view  its  effects  as  much  more  advantageous 
than  in  the  mere  money  value  of  the  exported  article. 
For  it  is  a  serious  matter  to  withdraw  thousands  of  work 
ers  from  the  field  and  the  shop,  at  a  time  when  all  pro 
ducts  are  selling  for  two  or  three  prices — partly,  it  is  true, 
through  currency  derangements,  but  partly  also  from  the 
fact  of  such  a  diminished  supply  of  the  necessaries  of  life 
offering,  that  speculators  are  enabled  to  buy  and  hoard 
them  up,  compelling  the  government  to  pay  largely  in 
creased  prices,  and  thus  heap  up  the  aggregate  of  national 
indebtedness. 

The  total  exports  of  this  article  in  its  several  conditions, 
during  the  last  three  years,  were  as  follows : 

YEAR.  GALLONS. 

1862, 10,387,701 

1863, 28,250,721 

1864, 31,792,972 


Total, 70,431,394 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  ?     239 

The  quantities  of  crude  oil  and  naphtha  were  compara 
tively  small.  If  we  average  the  price  last  year  at  sixty 
cents,  the  product  will  be  nineteen  million  seventy-five 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty -three  dollars.  If  we 
take  the  whole  seventy  million  four  hundred  and  thirty- one 
thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety -four  at  the  same  rate, 
the  product  will  be  forty-two  million  two  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-eight  dollars 
— a  respectable  amount  certainly,  yet  a  moderate  percent 
age  on  our  entire  exports  during  the  past  three  years. 

The  amount  of  government  revenue  on  crude  oil  for 
the  year  ending  March  31, 1866, 1  have  estimated  at  three 
million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  on  the  assumptions, 
first,  that  the  yield  of  the  new  wells  will  equal  the  decline 
on  old  ones ;  and,  second,  that  the  correct  figures  will  be 
returned  in  to  the  government  agents.  That  at  many 
works  the  owners  or  managers  will  resort  to  every  species 
of  device  to  avoid  payment  of  the  heavy  and  almost  op 
pressive  impost,  is  what  every  person  intimately  acquainted 
with,  life  and  manners  there  will  naturally  expect.  If, 
however,  the  officers  experience  any  trouble,  or  have  rea 
son  to  believe  that  misrepresentations  have  been  made,  a 
very  simple  and  efficient  remedy  offers  itself.  PUBLISH 

THE  FIGURES   OF  EACH  WELL   EVERY  MONTH  !      It  would 

be  a  terrible  infliction,  but  one  richly  deserved.  While 
essentially  right  and  fair  in  itself,  the  measure  would 
purify  the  stifling  atmosphere  of  Petrolia,  and  for  that 
matter,  that  of  the  whole  country.  Weak-kneed  interests 
would  growl  over  it  more  than  the  imposition  of  one  dol 
lar  per  barrel  of  tax ;  but  the  people  at  large  would  be 
greatly  benefited  through  the  instruction  thus  received. 
That  the  wells  in  process  of  sinking  will  yield  enough 


24:0      Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f 

to  make  the  supply  keep  up  with  what  it  now  is,  I  haye 
no  manner  of  doubt.  The  prospect  for  1865  is,  that  they 
will  do  considerably  more  than  this;  for  1866,  that  they 
will  at  least  equal  it ;  beyond  that  year  it  is  not  advisable 
to  venture  on  calculations  or  estimates  of  production  in  a 
field  where  the  law  of  lawlessness  has  all  along  prevailed. 

If  we  add  to  the  revenue  to  be  derived  on  crude  oil,  that 
which  is  already  being  received  upon  the  refined  article, 
(twenty  cents  per  gallon,)  the  aggregate  receipts  into  the 
United  States  Treasury  cannot  fall  below  twenty  million 
dollars,  and  may  amount  to  twenty-five  millions,  during 
the  twelve  months  stated.  Of  course,  all  this  comes  out 
of  the  pockets  of  the  American  people  as  consumers ;  yet 
there  is  perhaps  no  other  source,  yielding  so  much  rev 
enue,  where  the  load  would  be  felt  less  oppressive  than 
on  this  article,  as  is  manifest  from  the  fact  that  petroleum 
not  only  maintains  its  sway,  in  spite  of  these  heavy  im 
positions,  but  is  extending  it  in  every  direction. 

It  may  be  observed  here  that,  by  the  present  law,  the 
greater  portion  of  the  lubricating  oil  nearly  escapes  taxa 
tion,  the  excise  duty  of  one  dollar  per  barrel  on  the 
crude  article  being  barely  three  per  cent  on  the  selling 
value  at  the  wells.  As  most  of  it  is  used  in  that  condi 
tion,  it  is  manifest  that  the  revenue  suffers  a  considerable 
loss,  or  else  the  imposition  is  too  heavy  on  the  illuminat 
ing  kind.  A  thorough  revision  of  the  whole  subject  is 
one  of  the  first  matters  to  which  Congress  should  give  its 
attention. 

I  have  been  asked,  scores  of  times,  whether  petroleum 
is  likely  to  be  found  elsewhere,  particularly  on  the  great 
slope  east  of  the  Alleghanies.  Where  the  most  distin 
guished  savans  have  been  found  at  fault,  the  discovery 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f     241 

marking  a  new  era  in  geological  science,  the  mere  learner 
may  well  be  excused  from  taking  his  finger  from  his  lips 
until  experiments  have  settled  the  question.  I  shall,  how 
ever,  venture  a  few  opinions,  which  may  be  taken  for 
what  they  are  worth.  In  the  first  place,  then,  those  great 
divisions  of  the  secondary  formation,  known  as  the  Cam 
brian,  the  Devonian,  the  Silurian,  and  the  carboniferous, 
are  not  known  to  exist  east  of  the  Blue  Eidge  from  Vir 
ginia  to  New- York.  The  Silurian  and  the  Devonian 
abound  in  North-western  New-Jersey  and  that  portion  of 
Pennsylvania  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Delaware.  Sec 
ond,  the  groups  known  as  the  Chemung  and  Portage 
rocks,  (the  former  composed  of  highly  fossiliferous  shales 
with  thin-bedded  sandstones,  and  the  latter  of  flag-stones 
and  shales,)  which  abound  in  the  oil  regions  above  the 
river-beds,  send  only  a  small  arm  into  the  eastern  part  of 
New-York,  touching  the  Hudson  near  Catskill.  With 
that  exception,  there  exists  none  of  these  groups  east  of 
the  head-waters  of  the  Delaware.  Third,  sufficient  infor 
mation  has  not  yet  been  obtained  respecting  the  inferior 
sand-rocks  of  Yenango  county  in  which  oil  is  obtained, 
whether  to  identify  them  with  the  Onondaga,  the  Helder- 
berg,  the  Hamilton,  the  Clinton  or  the  Medina  group,  all 
coming  to  the  surface  in  Western  New -York  ;  but  it  seems 
probable  that  the  oil-bearing  rock  extends  a  considerable 
distance  in  that  direction,  and  may  enter  the  Empire  State 
from  the  south-west.  A  much  better  guide,  however, 
will  be  to  get  large  fragments  of  the  second,  third,  or  fourth 
sand -rocks  from  below,  and  compare  these  with  rocks  near 
the  surface  in  New- York,  than  to  trust  to  mere  surface 
resemblances  or  dislocations,  which  are  of  no  account 
whatever.  Fourth,  we  know  that  the  sand-rocks  of  West- 
11 


24:2     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f 

Virginia,  as  also  those  of  Eastern  Kentucky  and  Eastern 
Ohio,  yield  petroleum  at  the  average  elevation  of  fifteen 
hundred  or  two  thousand  feet,  geologically,  above  the  oil- 
bearing  measures  of  Yenango  county.  How  far  beyond 
Kentucky  or  how  far  west  of  Ohio  this  liquid  may  be 
discovered,  time  alone  will  show  ;  but  it  seems  likely 
enough  to  be  obtained  in  parts  of  Tennessee,  'Alabama, 
and  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  North-west.  Fifth, 
it  is  certain  that  the  sandstones  and  shales  of  New-Jersey 
and  the  sandstones  of  Connecticut  have  no  sort  of  affinity 
with  those  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  where  the  shales  are 
principally  of  clay  and  full  of  fossils,  and  the  sandstones 
or  conglomerates  are  more  or  less  fossiliferous  and  ar 
ranged  in  thin  layers,  with  hardly  a  perceptible  inclina 
tion.  Sixth,  /  think  it  will  be  found  that  the  true  source 
of  petroleum  is  not  the  sandstone  or  arenaceous  limestone, 
but  the  shales  which  are  in  places  bituminous  and  in 
places  petroleous,  (to  coin  *a  word.)  By  what  particular 
process  the  carbon,  originally  mix"ed  with  the  clay-beds, 
(now  shales,)  was  distilled  into  oil  and  gas,  and  then ,  in 
jected  into  the  crevices  of  the  harder  rocks  above,  I  do 
not  pretend  to  know ;  and  possibly  it  will  never  be  known 
until  deep  shafts  have  been  sunk  to  the  depth  of  one 
thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  feet. 

But  of  one  thing  we  may  rest  assured,  namely,  that 
there  is  quite  as  good  a  chance  of  striking  a  rich  deposit 
of  Orange  county  milk,  or  even  butter  and  cheese,  at  any 
point  east  of  the  Blue  Kidge  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  Penn 
sylvania,  New-Jersey,  and  New- York,  as  in  opening  a 
ten-barrel  vein  of  petroleum.  There  is  abundance  of 
wealth  in  the  mountains  and  valleys  of  that  section,  be 
sides  rock-oil ;  but  as  the  old-fashioned  article  does  not 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f     243 

possess  the  charm  of  novelty,  nor  even  that  of  distance, 
to  "lend  enchantment  to  the  view,"  it  is  despised.  The 
millions  of  money  which,  if  judiciously  invested  there, 
might  double  themselves  in  a  few  years,  are  transported 
to  Western  Pennsylvania  and  West- Virginia,  to  add  to 
the  intoxication  already  too  prevalent,  and  come  back — if 
in  hundreds  of  thousands,  the  owners  will  have  good 
cause  to  bless  their  stars. 

Men's  theories,  as  openly  avowed,  are  apt  to  be  modi 
fied  by  their  interests,  and  their  calculations  as  to  the 
future  by  their  theories.  Hence  it  is  found  that  the  natu 
rally  sanguine  and  the  mercenary  advocate  the  notion 
that,  in  the  great  laboratories  of  Nature,  chemical  and 
mechanical  agencies  are  at  work,  by  which  petroleum  is 
constantly  generated,  and  hence  that  there  need  be  no 
fear  of  exhaustion.  They  point  to  Babylonia,  Birmah, 
and  Trinidad  as  proofs  ;  but  it  is  manifest  that  Petrolia 
does  not  adopt  the  fashions  set  abroad ;  and  indeed  does 
not  follow  any  set  fashion,  either  at  home  or  abroad.  It 
recognizes  no  rule,  no  precedent ;  but  follows  its  own 
strong,  wild  impulses  from  day  to  day.  That  argument, 
therefore,  will  be  found  very  childish  against  the  hard 
fact  that  hundreds  and  thousands  of  wells  have  already 
dried  up,  and  cannot  be  made  to  reproduce  oil;  though 
salt,  brine  flows  profusely  enough.  Attribute  this  falling 
off  to  the  lack  of  gas  or  of  pressure  from  above,  as  we  may, 
the  painful  truth  forces  itself  upon  our  understandings, 
that  petroleum  is  not  there,  and  cannot  be  coaxed,  wheedled, 
or  forced  to  the  surface,  for  the  best  of  reasons. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  think,  they  err  who  hold  that  be 
cause  individual  wells  have  ceased  to  yield,  therefore  the 
production  of  petroleum  is  likely  to  stop,  one  of  these  days, 


244:     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  ? 

as  suddenly  as  it  began.  Facts  show  that  the  area  of  oil- 
bearing  territory  is  not  confined  to  the  "  pent-up  Utica  "  of 
any  creek  or  river  bottom.  A  careful  examination  of  the 
country  shows,  further,  that  the  bottoms,  as  such,  have  no 
connection  whatever  with  the  deposition  of  oil ;  though 
they  have  had  some  with  its  discovery.  But,  making  al 
lowance  for  the  greater  cost  of  boring  in  the  first  place, 
and  of  operating  expenses,  in  the  second,  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  hills  will  yield  as  freely  as  the  low-lands.  So 
believing,  I  have  so  taught.  My  mind  has  neither  been 
influenced  by  the  fear  of  a  sudden  cessation,  nor  the  be 
lief  of  a  constant  creation  of  oil  to  any  great  extent. 
Petrolia  has  not  appeared  to  me  in  rainbow-hues,  as 
viewed  from  a  distance ;  nor  a  gray,  drizzly  mass,  as 
viewed  from  within.  With  land  and  labor  at  reasonable 
rates,  it  is  likely  enough  to  be  good  for  seven  per  cent  per 
annum — perhaps  even  ten  ;  though  if  I  were  a  stranger, 
I  should  decidedly  prefer  a  United  States  seven-thirty 
bond. 

"  Then  you  maintain,"  say  some  readers,  "  that  it  is 
foolish  to  invest  a  dollar  in  oil  stocks,  to  sink  a  well,  or  to 
organize  a  company  with  a  view  to  the  further  develop 
ment  of  that  region.  For  if  the  business  be  in  many 
cases  a  swindle,  a  system  of  deception  and  falsehood,  as 
you  represent,  and  but  a  poor  affair  at  the  best,  no  pru 
dent  man  will  have  any  thing  to  do  with  it,  except  to  get 
out  of  it  as  quickly  as  possible." 

As  at  present  carried  on  by  many,  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  pronouncing  the  enterprise  a  gigantic  system  of  wrong ; 
but  surely  this  is  no  reason  why  good  and  bad  interests, 
honorable  and  dishonorable  men,  should  suffer  together. 
N"ay,  it  should  be  the  desire  of  every  individual  and  every 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f     245 

company  conducting  business  in  a  straightforward  man 
ner,  to  have  the  villainies  of  their  unprincipled  neighbors 
exposed.  The  sooner  this  is  done  the  better  for  them 
selves  and  the  community.  For  it  is  as  certain  as  sun 
light  that  roguery  will  be  detected  some  day ;  and  the 
longer  that  is  put  off,  its  consequences  will  reach  the  fur 
ther,  so  many  more  persons  will  be  involved  in  the  guilt, 
so  much  less  rigid  will  be  public  sentiment  as  to  right  and 
wrong.  The  reaction  which  set  in  with  this  spring  freshet 
might  perhaps  have  been  put  off  by  some  newly  organ 
ized  method  of  deception ;  but  with  a  shoal  of  fresh  for 
tune-hunters  sent  into  the  oil  region,  mostly  to  return 
minus  the  contents  of  their  pocket-books  and  their  bal 
ances  at  bank,  a  fresh  and  deeper  outburst  of  indignation 
would  have  arisen  against  Petrolia  and  all  connected  with 
it.  It  is  for  the  salvation  of  what  is  genuine  in  that 
country  that  I  have  made  some  of  these  exposures.  It 
may  disarrange  the  calculations  of  some,  who  have  ex 
pected  that  "to-morrow  would  be  as  this  day,  but  more 
abundant ;"  but  it  is  one  of  the  punishments  of  injustice 
that  the  pillars  upholding  it  are  liable  to  be  knocked  away, 
and  the -edifice  to  tumble  into  ruin  at  any  moment — al 
ways  the  wrong  moment,  of  course.  Samson  is  not  to  be 
blamed  for  tugging  at  the  pillars  of  the  temple  ;  but  let 
the  gaping  and  jubilant  Philistines  on  its  roof  look  out 
for  their  personal  safety. 

Every  enterprise  that  proved  pecuniarily  profitable  at 
first  has  been  almost  ridden  to  death  by  knaves  or  fools 
for  a  time.  Look  at  the  history  of  the  railroad  interest, 
both  in  Great  Britain  and  this  country ;  at  telegraphs, 
commerce,  manufactures,  even  agriculture.  In  all  a  few 
sagacious  individuals  have  originally  done  well,  on  learn- 


246     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  f 

ing  -which  excitements  have  sprung  up,  and  for  a  season 
it  looked  as  if  all  creation  were  rushing  in  that  direction. 
The  American  mind  is  peculiarly  subject  to  these  financial 
whirlwinds.  Eeady  enough  to  suspect  sordid  motives  in 
others,  it  puts  the  same  implicit  faith  in  its  frothy  news 
paper  articles  or  letters,  as  if  it  never  had  been  misguided 
by  those  so-called  leaders  of  public  opinion.  He  is  not 
the  people's  friend  who  fails  to  point  out  this  liability  to 
go  wrong  as  well  as  right,  by  rushing  in  droves  toward 
some  common  object. 

As  a  rule,  the  judicious  will  suspect  the  existence  of 
clanger  in  whatever  direction  the  crowd  is  driving.  If  in 
politics,  it  is  likely  to  be  impelled  too  far  and  too  violent 
ly  by  leaders,  who  are  often  selfish,  or  who  have  let 
passion  get  the  better  of  their  judgment.  If  in  any  par 
ticular  department  of  industry,  it  is  likely  so  to  glut  the 
market  that  prices  will  fall  to  ruinous  figures,  leaving 
bankruptcy  to  restore  the  equilibrium  between  supply 
and  demand.  On  two  occasions  only  will  the  most  saga 
cious  financial  boatman  dip  in  his  oar — when  an  enter 
prise  is  in  its  incipiency,  and  he  foresees  with  certainty 
that  it  will  be  profitable ;  or  after  a  general  collapse,  when 
fragments  of  the  wreck  can  be  gathered  cheaply,  and  wis 
dom  can  be  learned  from  the  misfortunes  of  others.  The 
intermediate  stage,  when  the  public  mind  is  at  fever-heat 
with  high  expectations,  is  one  that  ought  to  be  selected 
for  selling  out  and  retiring  from  active  participation.  Of 
course,  every  man  cannot  act  thus ;  but  if  a  number  of 
sensible  men  should  do  so,  the  step  would  have  a  most 
salutary  effect  in  checking  the  blind  rush  of  the  thought 
less  multitude. 

Now,  on  three  different  occasions  Petrolia  has  passed 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  ?    247 

through  this  process — before  the  great  downfall  in  the 
price  of  oil,  in  the .  autumn  of  1861,  in  the  spring  of  1863, 
and  that  of  1865.  Previous  to  each  of  these  lapses  nu 
merous  operators  had  made  fortunes,  which  turned  the 
brain  of  tfie  community.  A  strife  sprang  up  as  to  who 
could  first  "stake  a  claim"  in  this  new  El  Dorado,  which 
as  far  surpassed  California  as  the  Golden  State  did  the 
land  of  steady  habits.  The  market  was,  presently  or 
prospectively,  glutted,  and  down  tumbled  prices — at  two 
of  these  epochs  to  a  ruinous  degree.  Multitudes  of  wells 
were  thrown  up  in  disgust,  and  a  general  exodus  of  pop 
ulation  took  place.  This  refluent  wave  has  not  been  so 
great  the  present  year,  and  will  not  be  so  great  hereafter, 
because  the  demand  for  the  article  has  immensely  increas 
ed,  and  the  business  of  boring  for  it  has  become  one  of 
the  permanent  interests  of  the  country.  At  the  same 
time,  in  proportion  to  its  permanence,  and  the  decrease  of 
great  fluctuations  in  price,  its  profitableness  as  a  whole  is 
reduced  to  a  common  level  with  all  other  legitimate  en 
terprises.  There  is  no  escape  from  this  social  law,  either 
in  or  out  of  Petrolia.  Great  fluctuations — great  profits — 
great  losses — great  risks — and,  it  may  be  added,  great  im 
morality.  Per  contra.  Increased  demand — less  risk — 
less  profit  or  loss — less  immorality  in  conducting  it. 

I  may  be  told  that  this  is  altogether  too  sombre  a  view 
of  an  enterprise  which  has  enriched  and  is  now  enriching 
thousands  ;  which  turned  the  rate  of  exchange  in  our 
favor,  while  a  most  expensive  war  was  being  waged ; 
which  promises  to  be  like  the  widow's  cruse,  when  the 
prophet  directed  her  to  go  and  pay  what  she  owed  and 
live,  she  and  her  son,  with  the  residue ;  which  came  pro 
videntially,  if  not  miraculously,  to  aid  us  in  throttling  the 


248     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f 

great  rebellion.  For  the  good  that  it  has  accomplished,  I 
feel  grateful.  In  the  long  run,  one  well  the  less  will  not 
be  put  down  from  an  exposure  of  the  frauds  perpetrated 
by  those  concerned  in  it,  nor  will  a  gallon  the  less  be  ex 
ported.  The  country  as  such  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
truth,  whatever  those  engaged  in  the  work  of  deception 
may  have.  As  to  the  enriching  of  individuals,  a  very 
pertinent  inquiry  arises — How  much  of  that  wealth  is  due 
to  legitimate  enterprise  in  raising  petroleum,  and  how 
much  in  speculating  in  land,  or  taking  advantage  in  some 
way  of  others'  necessities  ?  It  has  always  been  the  boast 
of  wrong  to  get  its  dividends  first ! 

"But  there  are  large  companies,"  I  may  be  told,  "  which 
have  paid  as  dividends  two,  five,  nay,  ten  times  the  amount 
of  capital  stock  paid  in.  What  will  you  say  to  them  T"* 
And  here  occurs  an  account  of  the  Columbia  Oil  Company 
of  Pittsburgh,  which  will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  per 
haps  a  dozen  others.  The  facts  are  taken  from  the  Trade 
Circular  :  "  The  Columbia  Oil  Company  was  originally  a 
firm,  under  the  style  of  Eitchie,  Hardie  &  Co.,  consisting 
of  seven  persons,  who  purchased  the  Story  farm,  contain 
ing  nearly  five  hundred  acres,  at  the  outburst  of  the  pe 
troleum  excitement  in  Venango  county,  for  a  few  thousand 
dollars.  In  1862  the  company  was  organized,  and  pur 
chased  the  Story  farm  from  the  firm  of  Eitchie,  Hardie 
&  Company  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand 
dollars.  The  company  was  organized  with  a  capital  of 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  divided  into  ten  thousand 
shares  of  the  par  value  of  twenty  dollars  each.  These  shares 
sold  in  the  market,  during  1862,  for  from  two  to  ten  dol 
lars.  The  shares  gradually  increased  in  value  until,  in 
March,  1864,  they  were  worth  one  hundred  and  twenty- 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f    249 

five  dollars  each.  From  the  time  of  the  organization  in 
1862,  until  March,  1864,  dividends  had  been  paid  on  the 
stock  to  the  amount  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In 
April,  1864,  a  further  dividend  of  eighty  thousand  dol 
lars  ;  in  May,  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and  in 
June,  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  paid,  or  near 
ly  three  times  the  original  value  of  the  stock.  In  June, 
1864,  the  stock  was  enlarged — that  is,  the  original  shares 
were  called  in,  and  fresh  stock  at  the  par  value  of  fifty 
dollars  per  share,  in  the  ratio  of  five  shares  of  new  stock 
for  each  original  share,  issued  to  the  holder  thereof.  From 
June  until  August,  the  new  stock  advanced  in  price  until, 
in  the  latter  month,  it  was  worth  one  hundred  dollars  per 
share,  or  double  its  par  value  ;  and  the  stockholders  had 
received  dividends,  in  July  and  August,  to  the  amount  of 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  The  div 
idends  for  September,  October,  November,  and  December 
amounted  to  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  being  to  par 
ties  who  have  held  their  original  stock  a  payment  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  dollars  per  share  in  dividends  in 
eighteen  months.  The  person  who  paid,  one  year  and  a 
half  ago,  the  original  value  of  twenty  dollars  [per  share] 
for  one  hundred  shares,  and  has  held  his  stock,  has  re 
ceived  twelve  thousand  dollars  dividend  up  to  December, 
and  from  the  profits  of  increase  of  capital  made  in  June 
last  obtained  an  accession  to  his  stock  of  four  hundred 
shares,  which  shares,  although  of  fifty  dollars  par,  are  now 
worth,  with  his  original  shares,  forty-two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  making  a  clear  profit  of  fifty-four  thou 
sand  five  hundred  dollars  in  eighteen  months." 

That  is  to  say,  the  person  who  paid  in  two  thousand 
dollars  as  stock  has  received  over  twelve  thousand  dollars 
11* 


250     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  ? 

as  dividends,  besides  a  multiplication  of  his  shares  by  five, 
the  new  issue  being  one  hundred  per  cent  above  par  last 
December ;  but  since  then  there  has  been  a  large  fall  in 
stocks,  so  that  Columbia,  which  had  reached  one  hundred 
dollars,  as  stated,  has  fallen  to  seventy  dollars.  This  di 
minishes  the  "  pile"  of  profits  very  materially. 

Again,  the  Columbia  Company  purchased  a  farm  which 
happened  to  be  in  the  centre  of  the  valley — the  very  core 
of  the  oil  region.  Three  miles  above  and  as  many  below 
it  would  not  have  enjoyed  such  a  "  streak  of  good  luck." 

But,  thirdly,  it  is  quite  true  that  not  a  few  firms  and 
companies  that  went  largely  into  the  movement — purchas 
ing  at  low  prices  large  tracts  of  land,  and  leasing  it  out  in 
small  lots  to  others  for  one-half  of  the  oil,  with  perhaps  a 
large  bonus  besides — have  succeeded  to  a  degree  almost 
unparalleled  in  these  times  of  novel  developments.  "What 
individual  or  association  would  not  become  princely,  rich, 
if  owning  in  fee  simple  a  few  hundred  acres  of  the  Wash. 
McClintock,  the  Hyde  and  Egbert,  or  the  Story  farm  ? 
But  the  matter  wears  a  different  aspect  when  it  is  propos 
ed  to  go  to  that  country  and  lease  property  on  the  terms 
usually  granted  by  the  present  owners,  who  are  not  likely 
to  act  from  the  principles  of  pure  charity,  as  they  are 
probably  quite  as  familiar  with  the  productiveness  of  their 
lands  as  strangers  could  be  the  next  hour  after  their 
arrival ! 

In  a  word,  it  was  one  thing  to  organize  a  company, 
purchase  lands,  and  bore  for  oil  in  1862,  and  another  in 
1865. 

Whether  it  is  or  is  not  advisable  for  a  prudent  man  to 
embark  in  petroleum  enterprises  at  present,  is  a  point  on 
which  I  refrain  from  giving  an  opinion.  That  many  of 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  ?    251 

both  the  new  and  the  older  wells  will  be  amply  remuner 
ative,  none  but  prejudice  will  attempt  to  deny.  That  a 
large  amount  of  valuable  experience  has  been  gathered 
from  the  past  is  known  to  every  body  ;  and  the  effect  of 
this,  in  the  judgment  of  careful  and  conscientious  opera 
tors,  is  to  reduce  the  proportion  of  non-paying  works  from 
nine  out  of  every  ten  to  four  out  of  five  or  three  out  of 
four.  This  consideration,  however,  is  offset  by  another, 
namely,  that  no  such  productive  wells  have  been  opened 
the  past  two  years  as  were  during  1861  and  the  two  fol 
lowing  years.  To  tap  a  two  thousand  barrel  spring  was 
at  one  time  a  matter  of  not  very  unfrequent  occurrence ; 
there  is  not  a  well  which  yields  over  five  hundred  barrels 
to-day,  only  one  gives  over  three  hundred,  and  ten  over 
one  hundred.  A  two  hundred  barrel  well  is  viewed  with 
as  much  interest  now  as  one  flowing  two  thousand  was 
three  years  ago. 

Hence,  while  the  ratio  of  paying  works  opened  is  on 
the  increase,  those  mammoth  concerns  which  poured  out 
their  thousands  of  barrels  daily  have  disappeared,  prob 
ably  for  ever.  The  risk  is  less,  but  so  are  the  prizes.  The 
enterprise  is  rising  from  the  plane  of  a  lottery  toward  that 
of  certainty,  and  I  may  add,  toward  legitimacy  and  mo 
rality.  So  much  the  better  for  all  concerned,  not  even 
excepting  the  land  and  stock  gamblers. 

To  ask  such  indefinite  questions  as,  "What  do  you 
think  of  the  oil  regions  ?"  "  What  is  your  opinion  of  in 
vesting  in  petroleum  stocks  ?"  is  childish  in  the  extreme, 
it  being  impossible  to  give  a  general  answer  on  the  sub 
ject.  In  another  chapter  I  have  pointed  out  to  what  an 
extent  "  the  law  of  lawlessness"  prevails  ;  and  that  prin 
ciple  holds  good  as  to  the  productiveness  of  farms  and 


252     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f 

the  financial  condition  of  companies.  That  one  property 
is  "  dry"  affords  no  criterion  to  the  lot  adjoining  it,  which 
may  open  with  a  fine  flowing  well ;  that  one  company  is 
rotten  to  the  core,  being  managed  by  rogues  and  sustained 
by  dupes,  affords  no  proof  that  another  may  not  be  sound 
and  remunerative.  One  may  pay  out  its  working  capital 
in  dividends ;  another  may  scatter  and  yet  increase.  It 
is  true  that  Tray  suffered  from  being  in  Snap's  company ; 
and  that  the  worthily  managed  have  to  bear  a  part  of  the 
odium  which  is  attached  to  the  worthless,  when  both  are 
engaged  in  the  same  calling.  The  prudent  stockholder 
will  be  as  careful  about  sacrificing  his  shares  during  a  time 
of  panic  or  reverse,  when  errors  in  the  management  have 
been  discovered,  as  he  would  be  about  investing  in  com 
pany  with  a  crowd.  In  truth,  his  interest  is  more  valu 
able  after  each  instance  of  mismanagement  or  wrong- doing 
has  been  brought  to  light,  and  that  is  the  time,  above  all 
others,  when  he  should  hold  on  to  his  interest.  Let  him 
address  himself  to  manning  the  pumps,  lightening  the 
hold,  and  seizing  the  helm,  not  to  throwing  himself  into 
the  yawl  at  the  first  note  of  alarm. 

But  when  I  observe,  at  this  late  day,  men  who  have 
been  all  their  lives  engaged  in  other  pursuits  crowding 
into  the  oil  regions,  and  expecting  to  make  fortunes  speed 
ily,  as  land  speculators,  agents,  and  even  superintendents, 
competing  with  those  who  have  served  years  of  appren 
ticeship  in  these  capacities  ;  when  I  see  those  at  home  ex 
pending  their  means  lavishly  to  sustain  others  equally 
inexperienced  with  themselves,  I  inwardly  say  :  "  Friend, 
you  will  have  to  pay  dearly  for  your  whistle  before  all  is 
over ;  but  probably  no  other  lesson  would  have  taught 
you  needed  wisdom,  so  profound  was  your  belief  in  your 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolic*,,  and  How  f     253 

own  invincibility,  after  becoming  well-to-do  through  mea 
suring  tape  or  paring  cheese.  Go  forward  and  be  taught  1" 

Under  ordinary  circumstances,  we  should  hardly  think 
of  employing  a  butcher  to  do  our  preaching,  or  a  farmer 
to  purchase  dry-goods  at  wholesale.  Most  persons  have 
come  to  believe  that  a  certain  amount  of  training,  of  ex 
perience,  as  well  as  natural  capacity,  is  requisite  to  em 
ployment  in  any  situation  requiring  knowledge,  skill,  and 
judgment.  Not  so  with  many  of  the  oil  companies.  An 
officer  who  has  done  his  duty  bravely  on  the  field,  a  glib- 
tongued  lawyer  or  politician,  a  broken-down  merchant— 
any  body,  in  fact,  who  is  "  smart"  enough  to  button-hole  a 
board  of  ignorant  directors — may  be  safely  intrusted  with 
the  charge  of  a  heavy  interest  in  Petrolia.  I  am  not  im 
pugning  the  characters  or  capabilities  of  superintendents 
as  a  class ;  yet  those  who  have  been  longest  there  will 
most  readily  concede  that  at  first  they  were  so  verdant  as 
to  be  unfit  for  the  trust  reposed  in  them.  When  the  en 
terprise  was  in  its  infancy,  the  readiest  and  likeliest  had 
to  be  selected  as  managers.  'But  surely  the  history  of  six 
years  has  not  been  without  its  fruits  in  training  a  body  of 
practical  men,  whose  experience  of  the  various  operations 
and  processes  to  be  gone  through  is  worth  something.  Yet 
scarcely  a  day  elapses  without  witnessing  utterly  green 
hands  coming  out  to  take  charge  of  important  works — 
men  who  are,  nevertheless,  too  indolent  or  self-opinionated 
to  spend  their  leisure  hours  in  gaining  instruction  from 
their  more  experienced  neighbors. 

And  so,  before  forming  an  opinion  as  to  the  merits  of 
any  particular  interest,  it  becomes  necessary  to  examine 
into  the  character  of  the  agent  sent  out  to  conduct  its 
affairs — his  soundness  of  judgment,  his  knowledge  of  the 


254:     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f 

business,  his  integrity,  his  application.  Does  he  spend 
most  of  his  time  on  the  ground,  or  is  he  to  be  heard  blus 
tering  in  the  bar-rooms,  or,  it  may  be,  using  his  own  po 
sition  to  acquire  wealth  by  dishonorable  methods  ?  Ke- 
cently,  in  Titusville,  a  bureau  of  statistical  and  other 
information  was  started.  I  suggest  that  its  agents  make 
particular  inquiry  as  to  the  calibre  and  conduct  of  those 
who  are  intrusted  with  the  management  of  important  works 
there!  To  lead  a  company  triumphantly  through  the 
storm  of  battle  is  glorious  ;  but  it  does  not  insure  success 
in  purchasing  real  estate  and  machinery,  employing  labor, 
locating  wells,  making  contracts  with  persons  who  are  up 
to  every  conceivable  dodge  and  evasion.  It  is  fine  to 
display  eminent  ability  in  a  law  court,  or  to  glisten  on  the 
editorial  page  ;  but  it  by  no  means  follows  thac  the  genius 
will  be  crowned  with  laurel  as  an  oil  operator. 

To  the  individual,  therefore,  desirous  of  investing  there, 
the  first  consideration  should  be  to  procure  full  and  accu 
rate  information  as  to  the  facts  ascertained  and  the  persons 
employed  by  companies.  This  he  can  do  either  by  a  per 
sonal  inspection,  which  must  not  be  too  hurried,  or  by 
consulting  those  on  whose  word  he  can  place  implicit  re 
liance.  There  are  some  such  in  the  oil  regions.  I  have 
found  an  agent  who  corrected  too  high  figures  which  had 
been  given  me  as  to  the  yield  of  a  well,  against  the  inter 
est  of  the  company  and  himself  as  a  stockholder.  Nor 
are  such  men  in  minorities  as  lean  as  may  be  supposed. 
It  takes  time  to  separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff — to  as 
certain  whose  word  is  deserving  of  trust  and  whose  is  not. 

A  refiner,  of  several  years'  experience  in  that  country, 
and  in  easy  circumstances,  remarked  to  me  that  he  and 
his  partner  always  invested  their  surplus  profits  in  new 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f    255 

wells,  though  they  did  not  believe  that  more  than  one  in 
ten  returned  first  cost  and  operating  expenses.  Nay,  he 
would  go  further,  and  as  a  business  man  would  guarantee 
to  pay  fifty  per  cent  per  annum  as  dividends  on  moneys 
intrusted  to  him  for  investment.  This  is  certainly  a 
tempting  return,  and  I  have  no  doubt  was  uttered  in  good 
faith  ;  but  he  did  not  state  for  how  many  years  the  obliga 
tion  would  hold  good ;  and  this  is  the  point  of  all  points  in 
oil  investments  to  be  considered.  He  added  that  he  would 
expend  the  money  in  localities  selected  by  himself,  and 
under  the  direction  of  men  in  whom  he  could  confide. 

Another  observation  made  by  the  same  person  was  this : 
Let  the  man  who  has  only  a  moderate  sum  to  spare,  dis 
tribute  it  among  several  interests,  instead  of  risking  all  in 
one,  where  he  is  liable  to  lose  all.  I  can  imagine  no  bet 
ter  piece  of  advice  than  this,  the  only  obstacle  to  outsiders 
in  carrying  it  out  being  the  lack  of  information  as  to  the 
character  of  companies  having  shares  for  sale.  But  such 
an  inquiry  must  be  made  about  all  incorporated  concerns 
coming  before  the  public  for  means,  or  woe  betide  the 
unlucky  wight  who  trusts  to  chance.  The  man  who  invests 
in  any  enterprise  blindly,  does  what  in  him  lies  to  demor 
alize  business,  by  holding  out  temptations  to  defraud. 
The  duty,  on  moral  grounds,  of  exercising  strict  vigilance 
in  such  matters,  has  not  been  sufficiently  impressed  upon 
the  public  by  their  professional  teachers. 

Among  the  methods  by  which,  it  seems  to  me,  boring 
for  oil  might  be  properly  and  profitably  conducted,  is 
the  following :  From  four  to  six  persons  might  associate 
as  a  firm  or  a  company,  putting  in  a  total  capital  of 
twelve  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  These  men 
should  consist  of  an  experienced  driller,  an  engineer,  a 


256     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  ? 

carpenter,  a  tool-dresser,  with  perhaps  a  teamster,  and  a 
general  manager,  all  ready  to  put  down  their  hands  and 
take  vigorous  hold  at  work.  They  select  their  acre-lot, 
which  they  should  own  in  fee  simple ;  erect  their  own  der 
rick,  engine-house,  and  machinery ;  haul  their  own  lum 
ber,  fuel,  and  supplies;  purchase  their  own  engine  and 
apparatus,  then  proceed  to  drill  out  their  own  well.  Thus 
associated,  they  become  their  own  grocers,  boarding-house 
keepers,  teamsters,  clerks,  etc.,  each  having  charge  of  his 
several  department.  If  thought  advisable,  two  relays 
could  relieve  each  other,  taking  turns  by  day  and  night 
at  the  machinery.  With  a  reasonable  surplus  to  begin 
with,  if  one  well  proved  unsuccessful,  they  could  proceed 
with  a  second,  a  third,  or  even  a  tenth,  until  they  "  struck 
oil,"  if  it  should  be  strikeable.  This  done,  a  portion  of 
the  proceeds  might  be  set  apart  to  extending  operations. 

There  are  too  many  and  too  obvious  advantages  arising 
from  such  associative  effort  to  need  further  elaboration 
here  ;  and  it  only  requires  one  attempt  of  the  kind  to  be 
made  in  Petrolia  for  such  a  movement  to  become  quite 
general.  When  this  has  been  accomplished,  companies, 
with  their  stocks  "  watered "  to  insipid  weakness,  with 
their  costly  superintendence  at  the  works  and  management 
in  the  large  cities,  will  find  competitors  in  the  producing 
field  who  can  both  undersell  them  and  make  a  profit  by 
so  doing ;  at  the  same  time  the  workmen,  with  this  new 
avenue  to  preferment  thrown  open,  will  have  a  stimulus 
to  steadiness,  economy,  and  the  acquisition  of  knowledge, 
such  as  they  cannot  have  at  present. 

The  excise  duty  of  one  dollar  per  barrel  on  crude  oil 
will  fall  with  almost  oppressive  weight  upon  this  interest, 
in  view  of  the  effects  of  the  late  freshet  and  the  reaction 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f    257 

which  has  arisen  in  the  public  mind.  Of  the  dead-and- 
alive  concerns,  kept  going  in  order  to  find  purchasers,  I 
have  no  doubt  that  very  many  will  suspend  operations 
altogether.  Probably  one  well  out  of  every  ten  now 
pumping  will  thus  get  snuffed  out  before  midsummer,  after 
flickering  a  few  weeks  longer  in  the  socket.  The  falling 
off  thereby  in  the  production  of  petroleum  will  not,  how 
ever,  exceed  one  or  two  per  cent,  except  indirectly ;  but 
in  that  way  its  effects  cannot  fail  to  be  serious,  the  impo 
sition  being  from  ten  to  thirty  per  cent  on  the  gross  pro 
duct  of  an  interest,  which  is  certainly  not  netting  ten  per 
cent  on  the  capital  invested.  Yet  it  is  hard  to  sympathize 
with  Petrolia  in  its  misfortune,  considering  the  systematic 
falsifying  and  swindling  at  which  it  has  connived,  if  it 
did  not  directly  encourage.  Assuredly,  if  its  inhabitants 
had  been  careful  to  represent  matters  precisely  as  they 
were,  such  a  tax,  in  addition  to  twenty  cents  per  gallon  on 
the  refined  article,  would  not  have  been  thought  of.  But 
the  oil  men  gave  encouragement  to  the  belief  that  they 
could  stand  that  or  any  other  burthen,  and  so  it  was  fast 
ened  on  their  shoulders.  They  are  the  sole  authors  of 
their  own  misfortunes,  the  architects  of  their  own  ruin,  if 
ruinous  the  duty  shall  turn  out  to  be.  Often,  on  passing 
through  the  country,  I  could  not  fail  to  perceive  the  un 
pleasantness  of  their  situation.  Occasionally  taken  for  a 
government  official,  I  found  the  yield  at  which  a  well 
would  be  rated  as-  much  too  low,  as  it  was  likely  not  to  be 
when  the  true  object  of  my  visit  was  understood.  Poor 
fellows !  They  are  placed  between  the  upper  millstone  of 
Uncle  Sam  and  the  lower  of  the  public  prints,  between 
which  their  situation  is  not  to  be  envied. 

The  annoyances  connected  with  this  impost  are  fullyxis 


258     Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia,  and  How  f 

much  a  theme  of  complaint  as  the  tax  itself.  It  may  be, 
however,  that  these  are  selected  as  a  side-issue  for  attack, 
when  the  true  object  assailed  is  the  one  dollar  per  barrel, 
operators  being  fearful  of  confessing  that  it  falls  with 
crushing  weight.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  duty  must  be 
paid  by  the  owner  or  superintendent  of  the  well  within 
ten  days,  after  rendering  into  the  deputy  assessor's  office 
an  account  of  its  actual  production,  which  must  be  done 
on  the  first,  eleventh,  and  twenty -first  days  of  every 
month.  This  necessitates  at  least  three  journeys  in  the 
month  to  that  functionary's  headquarters,  and  may  require 
four  or  five,  through  a  country  not  the  best  adapted  in 
the  world  for  pedestrian  excursions,  and  where  horse-flesh 
is  an  expensive  luxury.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  the  obvious 
duty  of  the  government  to  have  its  agents  visit  certain 
sub-districts  on  days  specified,  and  receive  the  statements 
of  production,  if  not  the  tax  itself.  With  a  load  so  exceed 
ingly  heavy  it  ought  to  offer  every  facility  in  its  power  for 
mitigating  the  effect ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that,  despite 
the  folly  which  brought  on  such  a  visitation,  Congress 
will  see  the  necessity  of  lightening  this  burthen  upon  an 
interest  which,  as  a  whole,  has  doubtless  sunk  to  the  gen 
eral  level  of  American  industry  on  the  score  of  profitable 
ness.  There  is  no  valid  reason,  when  the  truth  becomes 
known,  why  Petrolia  should  be  taxed  from  fifty  to  eighty 
per  cent  on  its  gross  production,  in  addition  to  income 
and  indirect  taxes,  while  all  other  interests  are  rated,  as 
nearly  as  may  be,  at  from  three  to  six. 

I  am  not  sure  but  the  statement  that  "oil-mining"  has 
been  reduced  to  the  general  level  of  American  industry,  is 
a  truism  rather  than  a  truth.  In  fact,  the  sea  and  the  at- 
.mosphere  do  not  more  constantly  find  their  own  general 


Ought  I  to  Invest  in  Petrolia^  and  How  ?    259 

levels  than  does  business  to  ascend  or  descend  to  the  gen 
eral  average.  This  may  shock  the  notions  of  those  who 
have  been  made  dizzy  by  perusing  the  reports  of  certain 
great  companies,  or  the  productiveness  of  certain  mam 
moth  wells ;  but  such  must  learn  to  take  into  account  the 
thousands  who  have  invested  money  and  got*  back  little 
or  nothing,  as  well  as  the  hundreds  who  have  grown  rich, 
and  the  tens  who  have  become  millionaires.  They  must 
bear  in  mind  the  disproportion  of  "  dry  territory"  to  that 
which  bursts  forth  every  little  while  with  spouting  wells. 
They  must  take  in  the  disastrous  years  1861,  1863,  and 
1865.  equally  with  the  prosperous  ones  which  were  sand 
wiched  between  these.  And  they  must,  if  they  would 
arrive  at  truth,  make  a  note  of  the  secret  disgust,  the 
silent  disappointment  endured,  as  truly  as  of  the  demon 
strative  displays  made  by  those  who  have  made  their 
fortunes  by  a  single  throw.  When  the  dark  background 
as  well  as  the  bright  coloring  of  this  oil-painting  has  been 
contemplated,  it  will  be  seen  that  it  differs  from  other  pic 
tures  only  in  the  intensity  of  contrast,  not  in  the  proportion 
of  light  to  shade.  The  bright  lines  are  more  brilliant,  as 
the  sable  portion  is  more  pitchy  dark  than  other  works  of 
the  kind.  With  a  region  close  by  our  doors,  with  free 
exit  and  entrance,  with  every  facility  for  acquiring  infor 
mation  about  it,  how  could  it,  indeed,  be  otherwise  ? 
Common-sense  and  the  principles  of  sound  political  econ 
omy  teach,  a  priori,  what  I  have  demonstrated  by  figures. 


CHAPTER    X. 

PRACTICAL  CONSIDERATIONS. 

SINCE  the  discovery  of  petroleum  in  Yenango  county, 
the  state  of  Pennsylvania  has  done  nothing  to  assist  in  its 
development,  although  deriving  a  large  revenue  therefrom. 
There  is  an  urgent  necessity  for  immediate  reform  in 
this  regard.  From  the  outset,  for  example,  a  state  agent 
ought  to  have  been  appointed,  with  authority  to  collect 
statistics  of  the  wells'  productions,  arrange,  and  publish 
them.  That  this  should  have  been  so  long  neglected,  is 
alike  discreditable  to  Pennsylvania  and  the  interests  more 
immediately  concerned.  At  this  time  of  the  day,  the  pro 
priety  of  gathering  the  statistics  of  all  great  departments 
of  industry,  fortunately  requires  no  extended  argumenta 
tion  ;  but  in  a  new  growth  of  the  sort,  where  the  public 
mind  was  so  liable  to  be  led  astray  by  falsehood,  and 
where  a  dangerous  reaction  was  sure  to  set  in  after  the 
discovery  of  systematic  misrepresentation,  the  case  was  so 
much  the  more  urgent.  Had  monthly  or  even  quarterly 
returns  of  the  actual  yield  of  those  fountains,  under  oath, 
been  made  compulsory,  the  fever  of  excitement  would  not, 
it  is  true,  have  risen  to  so  dangerous  a  pitch,  but  neither 
would  it  have  been  followed  by  a  corresponding  prostra 
tion.  It  is  supposed  that  this  oversight  will  be  remedied 
by  the  general  government  requiring  such  returns  thrice 


Practical  Considerations.  261 

a  month ;  but  as  the  assessor  is  not  obligated  to  publish 
the  amount  of  taxes  collected  on  crude  petroleum  from 
month  to  month,  the  public  at  large  will  have  no  access, 
within  reasonable  time,  if  at  all,  to  full  and  trustworthy 
information  through  this  avenue.  Favored  individuals  or 
newspapers,  it  is  true,  may  procure  this  on  the  sly ;  but 
partiality  in  such  matters  is  exceedingly  mischievous,  as 
it  is  essentially  unfair.  The  earnest  attention  of  the  state 
authorities  is,  therefore,  asked  to  this  matter. 

Again,  while  Petrolia  is  inhabited  by  an  essentially 
peaceable  and  orderly  population,  no  protection  exists  to 
property-owners  against  careless  or  malicious  persons, 
who  withdraw  the  tubes  and  leave  their  wells  open,  to 
render  unproductive  perhaps  half  the  works  on  a  large 
farm.  Along  all  the  lower  portion  of  Oil  Creek,  particu 
larly  Tarr  farm,  I  have  elsewhere  pointed  out  the  calami 
tous  effect  of  this  careless  selfishness  or  a  disposition  still 
more  objectionable.  Beyond  a  question,  the  aggregate 
productiveness  of  the  oil  region  is  lessened  one  thousand 
barrels  per  day  from  this  cause  only.  The  matter  is  one 
coming  properly  under  legislative  co'gnizance,  and  should 
receive  immediate  attention.  I  more  than  suspect  that 
hitherto  the  companies  most  interested  in  having  such 
abuses  corrected,  have  been  afraid  to  move  in  the  matter, 
lest  the  admission  might  expose  "  the  nakedness  of  the 
land  "  before  the  public,  chiefly  at  the  great  money  cen 
tres.  They  have  chosen  to  keep  on  suffering  that  they 
might  have  the  privilege  of  uninterrupted  sinning ! 

The  small  outlay  connected  with  carrying  these  sugges 
tions  into  effect  could  be  borne  by  a  tax  on  each  produc 
tive  well,  or  upon  the  capital  invested  by  each  company, 
firm,  or  individual. 


262  Practical  Considerations. 

Once  more,  it  should  be  the  duty  of  such  a  state  agent 
to  require  the  constructing  and  keeping  in  proper  repair 
of  suitable  highways,  bridges,  sidewalks,  etc.  This  is  a 
matter  of  prime  necessity.  Extraordinary  abuses  call  for 
extraordinary  remedies.  At  Oil  City,  for  example,  the 
municipal  authorities  seem  neither  to  know  nor  care  for 
such  matters ;  the  attention  of  men  of  means  is  too  much 
absorbed  in  the  race-course  to  descend  to  such  a  pitiful 
level  as  a  common  road.  Outside  of  the  borough  there  is 
no  law  recognized.  The  short-sightedness  of  individuals 
and  companies  has  literally  converted  the  Petrolians  into 
a  community  of  murderers  ;  for  I  can  regard  the  system 
atic,  persistent  cruelty  and  oppression  shown  to  the  horse, 
as  at  least  "  murder  in  the  second  degree."  Teamsters 
assign  six  months  as  the  average  period  for  using  up  the 
finest  quadruped  that  ever  toiled  on  man's  behalf.  This 
harsh  treatment  brutalizes  drivers,  as  it  benumbs  the  best 
feelings  of  every  looker-on.  The  compelling  of  all  land 
owners  to  lay  out  proper  roads  and  keep  them  in  suitable 
condition,  for  which  abundant  materials  are  everywhere 
close  at  hand,  would  prove  a  vast  saving  pecuniarily  to 
all  concerned  at  the  year's  end ;  but  until  all  are  forced  to 
act,  it  is  idle  to  expect  any  one  person  or  interest  to  move 
in  the  matter. 

Legal  enactments  are  also  needed  to  provide  for  the 
construction  of  levees,  drains,  etc.,  as  well  as  roads.  It  is 
true,  government  machinery  is  usually  heavy  and  compli 
cated,  as  compared  with  individual  action  ;  but  where,  as 
in  the  region  under  consideration,  individuals  and  associa 
tions  refuse  to  move  a  step  in  the  prosecution  of  improve 
ments,  which  would  enure  to  the  benefit  of  all,  it  becomes 
the  duty  of  the  law-making  power  to  interfere,  perform 


Practical  Considerations.  263 

the  work  in  the  most  expeditious  and  efficient  way  it  can, 
and  charge  its  cost  upon  the  interests  thus  benefited,  or 
rather  rescued  from  destruction. 

It  is  little  to  the  credit  of  the  "  Keystone  State  "  that 
no  systematic  and  thorough  examination  of  the  oil  region 
should  have  been  undertaken  on  its  behalf  by  scientific 
men.  The  Geological  Survey  of  Pennsylvania  is  a  noble 
work,  unfortunately  published  shortly  before  the  extraction 
of  petroleum.  When  an  interest  has  sprung  into  exist 
ence,  with  taxable  property  annually  increasing  at  the 
rate  of  many  millions  of  dollars,  some  consideration  is 
due  it  by  the  constituted  authorities  of  a  great  and  enter 
prising  state  like  Pennsylvania.  The  best  talent,  joined 
to  the  utmost  disinterestedness  of  purpose,  ought  long 
since  to  have  been  secured  and  kept  in  the  oil  region 
to  collect  every  specimen,  and  record  every  observation 
made  by  practical  men;  assisting  the  latter,  whenever  ne 
cessary,  or  rectifying  their  mistakes  in  matters  of  fact  or 
inferences.  With  all  thus  working  harmoniously  toge 
ther,  a  body  of  scientific  truths,  of  the  utmost  value  in  a 
practical  point  of  view,  might  have  been  collected  and 
published  by  this  time,  instead  of  the  chaotic  mass  of 
facts,  opinions,  and  endless  contradictions,  which  have 
arisen  out  of  Petrolia,  as  dark  and  dense  as  the  smoke  of 
the  bottomless  pit.  Such  an  agency  would  have  cost  a 
few  thousand  dollars,  which  could  easily  have  been  as 
sessed  upon  the  interests  benefited ;  while  it  would  doubt 
less  have  added  millions  to  the  permanent  wealth  of  the 
state,  and  thus  indirectly  have  been  a  source  of  revenue. 
It  is  not  yet  too  late  to  begin  this  most  desirable  under 
taking  ;  but  not  an  hour  should  be  lost  in  setting  about 
it.  So  far  all  is  "  confusion  worse  confounded  "  in  this  re- 


264:  Practical  Considerations. 

spect.  The  accounts  and  theories  of  men  are  as  diverse 
as  the  characteristics  of  the  wells.  The  upper  and  nether 
worlds  are  for  once  in  most  delightful  accord,  and  man 
lives  according  to  nature.  Scarcely  two  persons  will  be 
found  to  agree  in  their  versions  of  either  facts,  phenome 
na,  or  causes.  The  rock  which  one  styles  a  sandstone, 
another  terms  a  limestone.  What  A  denominates  soap- 
stone,  B  calls  a  tenacious  clay.  Theories  are  as  dissimilar 
as  men's  faces,  every  body  ridiculing  that  entertained  by 
every  body  else.  No  wonder ;  for  Petrolia  does  not  con 
tain  twenty  men  who  have  had  a  good  scientific  training, 
and  acquired  accurate  and  diligent  habits  of  observation. 
The  state  authorities  must  undertake  the  task  of  reducing 
this  chaos  to  order,  of  reconstructing  these  disjecta  membra 
into  a  system  of  utility  and  beauty,  or  it  will  never  be 
done  properly. 

While  the  state  is  under  obligation  for  duly  protecting 
and  extending  this  great  interest,  the  public  press  of  the 
country  should  bestow  on  it  more  earnest  attention  than 
has  yet  been  given  to  it.  A  sufficient  excuse  for  such 
oversight  hitherto  has  been  the  frightful  civil  war,  which 
involved  most  of  our  leading  dailies  in  enormous  ex 
penses.  No  such  excuse,  however,  can  be  justly  offered 
on  behalf  of  journals  professedly  established  to  throw 
light  upon  Petrolia.  Every  such  paper  should  have  one 
or  more  able  and  trustworthy  correspondents  in  the  field 
— men  who  would  religiously  keep  their  fingers  from  be 
ing  soiled  with  a  bribe.  Unfortunately  it  has  long  been 
remarked  that  journals  " devoted  to"  certain  specialties 
have  not  been  devoted  at  all ;  their  conductors  satisfying 
themselves  with  facts  rehashed  from  the  daily  papers, 
with  some  common-place  observations  to  fill  up  a  column. 


P Tactical  Considerations.  265 

The  petroleum  journals  have  an  opportunity  of  wiping 
away  this  reproach ;  and  I  learn  with  pleasure  that  some 
of  them  are  striving  to  do  so. 

Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  cost  of  keeping 
a  pumping  well  in  operation.  Unless  gas  be  freely  given 
off,  it  requires  nearly  a  cord  of  wood  to  supply  the  fur 
nace  for  twelve  hours,  costing  from  seven  to  ten  dollars. 
Coal  is  rather  more  costly,  especially  in  the  winter  season. 
Add  to  the  outlay  for  fuel  the  salary  paid  a  superintend 
ent,  the  wages  of  an  engineer  and  a  laborer,  besides  occa 
sional  outlays  for  repairs,  and  the  total  working  expenses 
can  hardly  be  set  down  at  less  than  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  dollars  per  week,  for  a  work  of  ordinary  pro 
ductiveness.  This  absorbs  the  receipts,  at  the  average 
price  of  six  dollars  and  eighty  cents,  of  three  and  a  half 
barrels  of  illuminating  oil  to  begin  with,  assuming  that 
the  well  is  pumped  steadily  all  the  year  round ;  otherwise, 
the  proportion  of  loss  is  still  larger.  Seldom  does  a  four 
or  five  barrel  well,  after  paying  the  excise,  do  more  than 
clear  working  expenses,  in  the  absence  of  gas  as  fuel. 

To  reduce  these  the  engineer  is,  in  some  instances,  re 
quired  to  make  himself  a  man  of  all  work,  occasionally 
dressing  tools,  repairing  the  sheds,  or  repairing  the  ma 
chinery  which  may  have  got  out  of  order.  The  superin 
tendent  of  a  small  concern  also  performs  often  the  func 
tions  of  clerk  and  laborer,  in  addition  to  his  own,  or  he 
hires  out  a  portion  of  his  time  to  other  companies  or 
individuals.  One  man  may  thus  have  the  general  over 
sight  of  half  a  dozen  or  more  contiguous  interests.  The 
work  of  barrelling  the  oil  requires  little  labor  and  (com 
monly)  too  little  time.  Refiners  or  their  agents  ordinarily 
go  from  farm  to  farm  and  purchase  it  on  the  ground. 
12 


266  Practical  Considerations. 

sending  their  own  boats  or  teams  with  barrels  for  its  recep 
tion.  In  this  case  it  sometimes  needs  ajdegree  of  watch 
fulness,  as  the  purchaser  may  have  his  barrel  ever  so  little 
above  the  size,  all  the  excess  over  forty  gallons  being  so 
much  clear  gain  to  him.  On  this  account,  some  prefer  to 
sell  the  petroleum  in  bulk  only.  In  all  these  respects  I 
have  no  doubt  much  saving  may  be  effected,  and,  further, 
that  the  time  for  turning  a  new  leaf  on  the  score  of  econ 
omy  has  fully  arrived. 

An  intelligent  operator  lays  down  the  following  rules 
for  the  guidance  of  superintendents  and  other  employes  : 
Be  careful  in  every  thing.  Measure,  calculate,  estimate, 
weigh  accurately  in  advance ;  and  when  action  is  required, 
let  nothing  be  done  rashly.  A  well  requires  to  be  as  ten 
derly  dealt  with  as  a  nurse's  patient.  Let  well  enough 
alone.  If  your  well  be  yielding  ten  or  twenty  barrels 
per  day  steadily,  don't  undertake  to  make  new  and  rash 
experiments  upon  it,  even  though  they  may  have  suc 
ceeded  elsewhere.  Never  count  upon  two  wells  being 
quite  alike  in  this  respect.  What  is  sauce  for  the  goose 
in  Petrolia  may  not  be  sauce  for  the  gander.  LooJc  care 
fully  to  the  pump-valves.  The  sudden  stoppage  in  the 
yield  of  productive  wells  is  more  frequently  due  to  disor 
der  in  the  valves  than  to  any  other  cause. 

Of  mercantile  business  in  Petrolia  the  same  remark  is 
usually  made  as  as  about  boring  for  oil :  The  man  who  is 
adapted  to  it  and  conducts  it  on  correct  principles,  can 
hardly  fail  to  succeed.  On  the  other  hand,  he  who  breaks 
down  elsewhere  stands  a  poor  chance  there.  The  con 
sumption  of  groceries,  meats,  horse-feed,  clothing,  boots, 
and  the  like,  is  enormous,  owing  to  the  vast  influx  of 
strangers,  and  the  absence  of  economy  in  trifles,  charac- 


Practical  Considerations.  267 

teristic  of  all  countries  into  which  a  great  stream  of  wealth 
has  been  suddenly  poured.  Such  articles  usually  sell  at 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  per  cent  higher  than  in  most 
country  towns  and  villages,  the  prices  depending  somewhat 
on  the  means  of  transportation  from  the  more  prominent 
points.  The  cash  principle  is  nearly  universal.  The 
apology  made  by  the  retail-trader  for  high  prices  is,  that 
rents  and  horse-hire  are  oppressively  high  ;  that  fuel 
and  every  other  article  he  purchases  costs  two  or  three 
prices.  In  like  manner,  the  owner  of  a  house  falls  back 
upon  the  exorbitant  sums  charged  for  lots  or  ground- rents 
which  are,  he  alleges,  fully  up  to  the  New- York  city 
standard ;  while  labor  and  materials  are  so  costly  that 
it  requires  two  or  three  times  the  sum  to  erect  a  store 
or  dwelling  that  it  formerly  did. 

Of  hotels  and  boarding-house  accommodations  some 
thing  has  been  said  elsewhere.  For  transient  guests  the 
charges  are  nowhere  below  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents 
per  day,  and  more  frequently  from  three  to  four  dollars. 
Even  at  these  metropolitan  figures  the  stranger,  who  has 
been  "  taken  in,"  cannot  count  upon  a  bed  for  himself, 
much  less  clean  sheets  and  a  separate  apartment.  At 
Shaffer's,  for  four  dollars  per  day,  he  may  perhaps  get  all 
these ;  and  at  Irvine,  at  a  still  more  reasonable  charge, 
with  a  manifest  disposition  to  oblige.  Everywhere  the 
tables  are  abundantly  spread  with  the  substantials  requi 
site  for  a  good  meal ;  but  in  a  majority  of  places  milk  and 
the  more  delicate  articles  of  fare  are  usually  absent.  The 
culinary  arrangements  are  apt  to  be  primitive,  and  cooks 
are  of  all  imaginable  grades.  There  is  certainly  little 
cleanliness  in  the  eating,  as  in  the  sleeping  apartments ; 
but  something  must  be  pardoned  to  the  genius  of  mud,  as 


268  Practical  Considerations. 

well  as  to  the  spirit  of  liberty.  For  permanent  boarders 
the  rate  usually  charged  is  ten  dollars  per  week  in  hotels, 
and  eight  or  nine  dollars  in  boarding-houses. 

If  a  man  rates  even  moderately  on  that  standard  of 
measurement,  "  how  to  keep  a  hotel,"  and  applies  himself 
to  his  business,  I  hardly  see  how  he  can  help  getting  rich 
in  a  few  years,  in  spite  of  the  extravagant  rents  and  high 
prices  of  provisions,  fuel,  labor,  etc.  The  rush  of  travel 
has  hitherto  been  so  immense  that  strangers  have  been 
completely  at  the  mercy  of  landlords.  The  most  tender 
ly  reared  and  fastidious  in  taste  have  often  been  only  too 
happy  to  secure  six  feet  by  two  on  a  floor  or  a  counter, 
wrapped  in  a  buffalo-robe.  No  use  in  complaining  about 
package,  unventilated  rooms,  or  dingy  sheets ;  for  a  sig 
nificant  hint  from  the  proprietor,  that  half  a  dozen  others 
would  have  paid  a  premium  for  the  same  berth,  invaria 
bly  suppresses  all  uprisings  of  discontent.  "  Sir,  we  do 
the  best  we  can  for  you.  This  is  the  oil  country,  you 
know." 

But  let  the  tide  thitherward  of  excited  folly  decline,  as 
it  has  already  begun  to  decline,  and  hotel-keepers  will 
find  themselves  competing  for  public  "  patronage/'  instead 
of  patronizing  the  weary  pilgrim  by  condescending  to 
give  him  a  coarse  supper  and  a  coarser  bed  for  two  prices. 
The  owners  of  real  estate  will  also  begin  to  feel  the  up 
risings  of  a  sentiment  akin  to  moderation.  Lots  for 
building  purposes  will  be  brought  within  the  reach  of  in 
dustrious  men,  though  they  be  not  petroleum  aristocrats  ; 
while  those  of  more  ambitious  views  may  naturally  aspire 
to  the  possession  of  a  whole  acre,  to  be  cultivated  for  gar 
dening  purposes  or  devoted  to  pasture. 

This  brings  me  to  consider  the  stolid  stupidity  of  many 


Practical  Considerations.  269 

oil  companies,  in  the  discouragement  they  have  offered  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil  by  demanding  prices  as  the  rent 
of  land  such  as  no  person  could  afford  to  pay.  They  have 
preferred  to  let  thousands  of  acres  lie  idle  to  having  them 
producing  food  for  their  workmen,  or  even  hay  for  their 
horses.  Their  idea  appears  to  have  been  that  the  proper 
ty  they  have  purchased  as  oil-lands  should  rent  for  only 
six  month,  at  rates  paying  high  interest  on  the  invest 
ment  !  Short  of  such  returns  they  would  let  those  broad 
acres,  which  they  were  unable  to  bore,  run  idle.  They 
have  thus  reduced  an  originally  fertile  country  to  the  con 
dition  of  a  desert,  depending  upon  remote  localities  for 
every  measure  of  garden  vegetables,  every  quart  of  milk, 
as  well  as  the  staple  articles  of  food  consumed.  Hence, 
with  all  their  high  earnings,  the  Petrolians  can  seldom 
procure  a  glass  of  fresh  milk  or  a  mess  of  fresh  vegeta 
bles.  Hence,  too,  with  abundance  of  land  susceptible  of 
cultivation,  employes  must  pay  two  prices  for  board,  which, 
in  turn,  reacts  upon  the  companies,  compelling  them  to 
pay  double  wages,  and  reduce  dividends  in  a  correspond 
ing  degree.  All  this  is  attributable  to  the  whirlwind  of 
excitement,  which  has  led  all  interests  to  despise  the  in 
significant  gains  derivable  from  the  soil,  or  from  the  prac 
tice  of  a  prudent,  far-sighted  policy  in  procuring  supplies 
at  home  for  the  rapidly  increasing  market.  The  nume 
rous  failures  in  proportion  to  the  successes  achieved  there, 
an  understanding  by  the  public  of  the  tricks  and  traps 
i  esorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving  the  unwary,  must 
have  the  effect  of  bringing  about  (by  necessity)  a  com 
plete  change  of  policy  in  this  respect,  on  the  part  of  in 
terests  which  expect  to  survive.  One  or  two  Philadel 
phia  concerns  have  already  had  the  sagacity  to  see  this 


270  Practical  Considerations. 

and  take  action  upon  it.  They  offer  such  lands  as  are 
not  likely  to  be  taken  up  otherwise  at  moderate  rents,  for 
six  months  or  a  year,  in  the  hope  of  inducing  farmers  and 
gardeners  to  migrate  thither.  But  this  is  only  a  drop  at 
the  bucket.  It  is  important  that  a  general  movement  in 
the  same  direction  shall  take  place,  and  that  without  de 
lay.  Migration  on  the  part  of  the  classes  named  must  be 
systematized,  and  every  reasonable  inducement  held  out 
to  them  to  take  up  their  abode  in  the  unoccupied  lands. 
With  a  fair  chance  many  hundreds  would  readily  take 
hold  there ;  and  such  men  would  constitute  an  efficient 
force  of  laborers  to  sink  wells  at  a  minimum  price  dur 
ing  the  fall  and  winter  months,  as  also  to  do  hauling  and 
other  work  at  reasonable  rates. 

In  fact,  if  petroleum  is  not  to  be  brought  down  to,  l>ut 
kept  up  with,  the  general  level  of  our  great  interests,  the 
first  proceeding  in  order  is  to  strip  it  of  the  false  glare  in 
which  it  has  hitherto  been  presented  to  the  world  ;  to  in 
culcate  the  necessity  of  certain  old-fashioned  virtues  like 
moderation,  economy,  prudence,  forethought,  public  spirit, 
etc.  After  the  money-making  and  money -losing  fanati 
cism  which  has  raged  there  for  nearly  half  a  dozen  years, 
it  may  go  hard  with  many  to  sit  down  to  master  afresh 
these  rudiments  of  education ;  but  the  longer  this  task 
shall  be  put  off,  the  worse  for  all  concerned. 

Owing  to  the  impolicy  noticed  above,  an  evil  of  still 
greater  magnitude — one  which  can  hardly  be  measured  in 
dollars  and  cents — has  arisen.  There  is,  in  manjr  places, 
scarcely  a  trace  of  what  can  be  termed  a  permanent  ele 
ment  in  the  population — certainly  not  outside  of  a  few 
principal  towns.  In  Oil  City  ninety-nine  out  of  every 
hundred  persons  expect  to  leave  it  as  soon  as  they  have 


Practical  Considerations.  271 

got  "  money  enough."  Hence,  on  the  part  of  nearly 
every  one,  the  understanding  is  to  acquire  wealth  as  rap 
idly  as  possible,  without  being  too  scrupulous  as  to  the 
means;  then  clear  out  of  the  country,  or  "return  to  the 
States,"  as  they  term  it.  No  impression  could  be  more 
detrimental  to  the  general  well-being  of  a  community  than 
this.  It  bars  all  progress,  except  such  as  is  concerned  in 
momentarily  inflating  market- values.  It  brings  the  race 
course  with  its  excitement,  but  not  the  passable  highway 
with  its  utility  and  comfort ;  the  telegraph,  with  its  cook- 
ed-up  dispatches,  not  the  decent  sidewalk ;  the  caravan 
sary,  not  the  well-kept  hotel ;  the  mountebank  with  his 
"  gift  enterprises,"  not  the  sound  public  teacher  ;  the 
tribe  of  "Moses,"  not  the  class  of  honorable,  public-spir 
ited  merchants  ;  wild  excitements,  instead  of  the  purer 
enjoyments  becoming  rational  and  accountable  beings. 
It  is  an  obstruction  alike  to  good  morals,  pure  religion, 
general  education  and  refinement,  as  well  as  to  public 
improvement.  Where  no  person  expects  to  remain,  ex 
cept  for  the  briefest  possible  period,  who  feels  interested 
in  giving  tone  to  a  community  ?  Who  cares  for  its  repu 
tation  outside,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad  ?  Who  will  ex 
pend  a  dime  in  beautifying  house,  grounds,  etc.,  adorn 
ments  which  add  so  much  to  the  sweets  of  existence  in 
beholders  as  well  as  owners  ?  Who  will  oppose  abuses, 
be  they  ever  so  monstrous,  or  institute  reforms,  be  the 
necessity  ever  so  urgent,  when  every  step  is  certain  to 
arouse  opposition,  and  no  one  feels  concerned  about  the 
distant  future  ?  The  Spartans  made  their  slaves  drunk, 
in  order  to  exhibit  them  in  that  condition  to  their  child 
ren,  and  thereby  fill  their  minds  with  disgust  at  the  prac 
tice.  If  I  wanted  to  impress  on  the  mind  of  a  youth  the 


272  Practical  Considerations. 

debasing  effects  of  selfishness,  I  should  transport  him  for 
a  whole  week  to  Oil  City ! 

The  social  condition  of  Petrolia  is  thus  in  a  measure 
that  of  California,  for  some  years  after  "  the  gold  fever  " 
began  to  rage.  Society  remained  utterly  demoralized  un 
til  the  idea  got  into  some  men's  heads  that  "  the  Golden 
State  "  might  be  made  a  desirable  place  for  one's  perma 
nent  abode.  This  revolution  in  idea  was  followed  by  the 
social  uprising  which  overthrew  the  lawless  element  and 
established  order,  protection,  quiet.  What  California  has 
been  made  under  the  influence  of  a  thought,  Petrolia 
may  become  by  the  same  instrumentality.  Let  this 
thought  only  take  root  there,  and  from  it  will  spring  up 
at  once  a  beauteous  growth  of  public  spirit,  generosity, 
kindness,  accompanied  by  the  march  of  improvement 
such  as  it  has  never  yet  witnessed.  Until  this  idea  has 
taken  hold  of  the  people,  it  is  idle  to  expect  aught  but  a 
continuation  of  the  same  recklessness,  the  same  fluctua 
tions  in  business,  the  same  acquisition  of  princely  fortunes 
by  a  few,  at  the  expense  of  many  and  sad  wm-fortunes 
on  the  part  of  the  multitude.  Petrolia  will  become  a 
plague-spot  on  the  score  of  manners,  a  great  gambling- 
school,  a  camp  of  instruction  for  the  whole  country  in 
falsehood  and  rascality.  Principles  which  have  lain  latent 
in  the  human  breast  elsewhere,  will  there  be  "  developed" 
equally  with  "  oil  territory ;"  and  taking  their  places  there 
as  so  many  cardinal  virtues,  will  come  forth  to  walk  the 
earth  with  unblushing  front,  and  communicate  to  old  and 
young  the  sad  distemper. 

However  it  may  be  with  companies  and  individual  spec 
ulators,  he  is  a  friend  to  the  country  and  his  race  who  ex 
poses  the  abuses  which  have  grown  up  in  connection  with 


Practical  Considerations.  273 

the  oil  discovery ;  who  proves  that  while  there  exist  in 
Petrolia  the  conditions  of  an  abiding  prosperity,  (the  de 
posit  extending  to  uplands  as  well  as  lowlands,)  yet  the 
average  profits  on  extracting  oil  from  the  earth  are  noth 
ing  like  so  great  as  have  been  represented ;  that  the  agen 
cies  made  use  of  to  influence  public  opinion  elsewhere  are 
for  the  most  part  deceptive ;  that  the  men  who  have  pros 
tituted  their  tongues  or  their  pens  to  induce  strangers  in 
such  multitudes  to  invest  their  means,  without  any  per 
sonal  examination,  in  the  business,  belong  to  the  class 
knave  or  the  class  fool  /  in»  a  word,  that  it  is  by  putting 
a  stop  to  this  temporary  flush  of  prosperity,  and  turning 
men's  attention  to  what  is  permanent,  that  the  true  well- 
being  of  that  region  is  to  be  brought  about.  This  I  have 
at  least  endeavored  to  do. 

It  has  been  established,  I  think,  that  the  river-system 
of  that  country  has  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
original  depositing  of  petroleum  ;  consequently,  that  it 
may  be  expected  with  the  same  chance  of  success  in  the 
table-lands  as  along  the  bottoms,  plus  the  cost  and  trouble 
of  reaching  and  pumping  it.  It  has  been  shown  that  in 
some  valleys  the  supply  of  oil  is  fast  becoming  exhausted, 
whatever  quantities  may  be  brought  up  by  boring  new 
wells  or  deepening  old  ones.  This  is  a  painfully  import 
ant  truth,  which,  however,  can  no  longer  be  concealed  by 
the  specious  reasoning  of  scribes  who  have  hired  them 
selves  out  to  puff  general  or  individual  interests.  The 
hard  fact  of  four-fifths  of  the"  old  wells  remaining  idle 
year  after  year,  in  spite  of  repeated  attempts  to  resusci 
tate  them,  also  demonstrates  that  there  is  no  chemical  ac 
tion  going  on  which  generates  petroleum  in  large  quanti 
ties  out  of  its  original  constituents ;  but  that  the  small 
12* 


274  Practical  Considerations. 

quantities  obtained  are  due  to  leakage,  or  some  other 
equally  simple  agency. 

It  has  been  shown  that  many  of  the  fortunes  rapidly 
acquired  in  the  oil  regions  by  selling  interests  in  produc 
tive  wells  or  those  expected  to  become  such,  are  gained 
by  unscrupulous  lying  and  dishonorable  stratagems,  ~by 
which  the  uninitiated  have  been  swindled  and  robbed, 
while  in  a  state  of  mind  approaching  intoxication,  from 
the  "  ardent  spirits  "  distributed  along  the  outposts  of  the 
country. 

The  actual  yield  of  the  producing  wells  has  been  ascer 
tained  or  closely  approximated  to,  and  published  for  the 
first  time.  I  feel  confident  that  no  well's  production  has 
been  designedly  misrepresented,  and  that  the  figures  pub 
lished  as  to  what  each  was  doing  at  the  time  of  my  visit, 
are  not  in  one  instance  out  of  twenty  far  -  from  the  mark  ; 
that  they  are  as  often  below  it  as  above.  From  these  data 
I  have  estimated  the  average  production  of  the  entire  re 
gion  ;  and  though  making  no  account  of  the  loose  esti 
mates  of  others  who  were  never  on  the  ground,  it  is  satis 
factory  to  learn  that  the  figures  given  here  are  nearly 
midway  between  the  extremes.  Estimates  for  working  ex 
penses,  for  replacing  defunct  concerns,  excise  duties,  etc., 
have  also  been  given  ;  and  a  result  on  the  score  of  pro 
fitableness  arrived  at,  which  will  be  found  in  accordance 
with  common-sense  and  sound  principle. 

Finally,  a  number  of  practical  suggestions  have  been 
offered,  embodying  not  only  the  author's  individual  views, 
but  those  of  experienced  operators,  whose  knowledge  and 
characters  entitle  them  to  a  fair,  fall  hearing  on  the  part 
of  residents,  directors,  legislators,  and  all  others  concerned 
in  the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  oil  region.  These  va- 


Practical  Considerations.  275 

rious  topics  discussed,  together  with  the  processes  of  bor 
ing,  refining,  and  repairing,  the  author  would  conclude 
by  declaring  once  more  that  in  dealing  with  every  depart 
ment  of  the  subject  his  sole  aim  has  been  to  arrive  at  and 
state  "the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the 
truth." 


HOME  USE 

CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 
MAIN  LIBRARY 

e  on  the  lastate 


T  D21 — A-40m 
(S7737L) 


,'5457 


M99742 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


ttftHW 


mm 


